Wonderful 
Counsellor 
Mighty  God 
Father  everlasting 
Prince   o 


Moty  NAMES   m 


HOLY   NAMES 


Bg  tfje  Same 


FOOTPRINTS  OF  THE   SHYIOUR. 

DEVOTIONAL  STUDIES  IN   THE  LIFE 
AND  NATURE   OF  OUR  LORD. 


It  is  a  work  which  may  be  read  again  and  again.  It  is  a  hook 
that  we  imagine  will  always  be  kept  at  hand,  to  be  taken  up 
when  the  mind  is  weary  with  the  disputations,  the  cares,  and 
the  frets  of  the  world.  It  is  a  book  after  our  own  heart.  —  From 
a  London  paper. 

With  calm,  unruffled  spirit  of  confiding  trust,  increasing  as 
he  moves  on  from  point  to  point,  the  reader  is  led  from  the 
cradle  in  the  manger  to  the  ascension  and  the  eternal  spiritual 
presence  of  Christ  with  His  beloved.  —  Christian  Union. 

The  book  is  written  in  a  reverent  and  tender  spirit,  and  in 
cordial  sympathy  with  the  religious  needs  and  experiences 
of  the  individual  soul.  Its  style  is  simple  and  graceful,  and 
the  author's  purpose  to  be  helpful  appears  all  through  the 
work.  —  The  Chitrihman. 


One  volume,  i6mo.  cloth,  gilt  top,  price,  £1.00:  white 
and  gold,  gilt  edge,  price,  $1.25. 


HOLY  NAMES. 


interpretation^ 
of 

of  tJje  ganger 
and 


BY   THE 


REV.   JULIAN    K.    SMYTH, 

AUTHOR    OF    "FOOTPRINTS    OK   THE    SAVIOUR. 


He  dwelleth  with  you,  and  shall  be  in  you.  —  2  JOHN  xiv.  17. 


BOSTON: 

ROBERTS    BROTHERS. 
1891. 


Copyright,  r8qr, 

BY  ROBERTS  BROTHERS. 


2Sntbersttg  ^resst: 

JOHN  WILSON  AND  SON,  CAMBRIDGE,  U.S.A. 


"  (iod  hides  Himself  w'tth'tn  the  love 
Of  those  whom  we  love  best  ; 
The  smiles  and  tones  that  make  our  homes 
Are  shrines  by  Hint  possessed." 


PREFACE. 


r  I  "'HE  title  of  this  little  volume  refers  to  that 
-*-  wonderful  list  of  names  applied  to  the 
Son  of  Man  in  the  well-known  prophecy  :  "  Unto 
us  a  child  is  born ;  unto  us  a  Son  is  given ;  and 
the  government  shall  be  upon  His  shoulder; 
and  His  name  shall  be  called  Wonderful,  Coun- 
sellor, the  Mighty  God,  the  Everlasting  Father, 
the  Prince  of  Peace/'  The  emotions  experienced 
upon  hearing  Handel's  mighty  chorus,  in  which 
these  holy  names,  one  after  the  other,  are  pro- 
claimed with  such  power,  led  the  author  to  make 
a  special  study  of  these  five  titles.  He  felt  then 
—  and  he  feels  more  than  ever  now  —  that  there 
is  a  power  of  meaning  in  them ;  that  the  appel- 
lations, as  well  as  the  order  in  which  they  are 


PREPACK 

given,  are  not  accidental.  The  result  of  these 
studies  is  the  conviction  that  there  is  a  beautiful 
and  divinely-intended  sequence  of  ideas  in  these 
names  and  titles ;  that  they  help  to  interpret  for 
us  the  story  of  the  manger  anil  the  cross  by 
indicating  the  different  ties  and  relationships 
which  our  Lord  by  His  life  on  earth  sought  to 
establish ;  and  that  in  a  manner  at  once  impres- 
sive and  helpful  they  suggest  —  or,  more  properly 
speaking,  they  reveal  —  those  spiritual  relation- 
ships which  one  after  another  are  intended  to 
grow  up  between  the  Lord  and  every  follower 
who  is  faithful  unto  the  end.  Each  tie,  each  new 
bond  formed,  is  of  a  more  intimate  and  sacred 
character  than  the  preceding,  until  from  that 
first  wonder,  or  admiration  with  which  we  regard 
Him,  He  becomes  at  last  the  peace-giver. 

It  is  this  spiritual  side  of  the  Christ-life  as  it 
touches  and  enters  into  our  human  life,  the  pro- 
gressiveness  of  it,  the  helpfulness  and  the  beauty 
of  it,  which  this  little  book  seeks  most  of  all  to 
express.  In  two  of  the  earlier  chapters,  the  au- 
thor has  not  hesitated  to  enter  with  some  degree 


PREFACE. 

of  particularity  into  the  subject  of  the  virgin- 
birth,  stating  some  principles  which  he  trusts 
may  prove  helpful  in  thinking  clearly  of  this 
great  fact  of  incarnation.  In  the  Appendix,  he 
has  endeavored  to  emphasize  the  historic  truthful- 
ness of  the  person  of  the  Son  of  Man  as  revealed 
in  the  Gospels,  and  the  divine  character  of  His 
life  and  work.  In  a  companion  volume,1  he  has 
tried  to  make  real  to  thought  and  affection  the 
Humanity  of  our  Lord.  In  these  pages,  and  by 
means  of  these  Holy  Names,  his  main  purpose 
has  been  to  help  such  as  may  read  this  book 
to  think  of  the  Lord's  inward  presence  as  a 
most  sacred  reality,  and  a  never-failing  means  of 
support  and  comfort. 

However  inadequately  this  purpose  may  have 
been  fulfilled,  this  little  book  is  now  sent  forth 
with  "  God-with-us  "  as  its  watchword,  and  this 
promise  of  the  Gospel  as  its  chief  message  :  "  He 
dwelleth  witli  you,  and  shall  be  in  you." 

1  Footprints  of  the  Saviour. 
BOSTON,  October,  1891. 


CONTENTS. 
* 

PACK 

THE  HOLY  NAMES 13 

A  Chapter  for  Christmas  Day. 

I.  THE  LORD  AS  THE  WONDERFUL      .     .  37 

II.  THE  LORD  AS  THE  COUNSELLOR      .     .  59 

III.  THE  LORD  AS  THE  MIGHTY  GOD     .     .  81 

IV.  THE  LORD  AS  THE  EVERLASTING  FATHER  105 
V.  THE  LORD  AS  THE  PRINCE  OF  PEACE  .  131 

Sppentofe. 

A.  THE  STORY  OF  THE  VIRGIN-BIRTH.  —  ITS 

AUTHENTICITY 161 

B.  A  LAW  OF  CREATION  AS  APPLIED  TO  THE 

MIRACULOUS  CONCEPTION      ....     166 

C.  THE   PERSON   OF   THE   SON   OF   MAN  IN 

THE   LIGHT    OF    HlS    OWN    TESTIMONY     .       170 

D.  A  VENERABLE  AND  REMARKABLE  WITNESS     176 

E.  THE  SIMPLICITY  OF  THE  GOSPEL-RECORDS, 

AND  THE  MIRACULOUS  ELEMENT     .     .     185 

F.  THE  STORY  OF  THE  REDEMPTION   .          .189 


THE  HOLY  NAMES. 


O  TENDER  tale  of  old, 

Live  in  thy  dear  renown  ; 
God's  smile  was  in  the  dark,  behold 

That  way  Hia  hosts  came  down ; 
Light  up,  great  God,  thy  Word ; 

Make  the  blest  meaning  strong, 
As  if  our  ears,  indeed,  had  heard 

The  glory  of  their  song. 

It  was  so  far  away, 

But  Thou  could'st  make  it  near, 
And  all  its  living  might  display 

And  cry  to  it,  "  Be  here,"  — 
Here,  in  th'  unresting  town, 

As  once  remote  to  them, 
Who  heard  it  when  the  heavens  came  down, 

On  pastoral  Bethlehem. 

It  was  so  long  ago, 

But  God  can  make  it  now, 
And  as  with  that  sweet  overflow, 

Our  empty  hearts  endow; 
Take,  Lord,  those  words  outworn, 

O !  make  them  new  for  aye, 
Speak  —  "Unto  you  a  Child  is  born," 

To-day  —  to-day  —  to-day. 

Ho/y  Honys,  Carols,  and  Sacred  Ballads. 


A  CHAPTER  FOR  CHRISTMAS   DAY. 

* 

"  For  unto  us  a  Child  is  bom :  unto  us  a  Son  in  given  : 
and  the  government  shall  be  upon  His  shoulder;  and 
Hit  Name  shall  be  called  Wonderful,  Counsellor,  the 
mif/kty  God,  the  everlasting  Father,  the  Prince  of 
Peace." 

A  /T  UCH  of  the  joy  which  Christmas  day 
A  should  bring,  is  in  feeling  that  this 
old  fact  of  the  Incarnation  still  lives ;  that 
it  still  is  true ;  that  it  still  holds  the  promise 
of  the  Divine  nearness  and  loving-kindness. 
Can  we  ask  more,  can  we  do  more  than  to 
read  the  story  of  the  Nativity  out  of  our 
Gospels ;  to  try  and  bring  this  event  before 
ourselves  as  distinctly  as  possible ;  to  remem- 


14  HOLY  NAMES. 


her  the  love,  of  which  it  is  a  sign,  the  bless- 
ings, of  which  it  is  a  source,  and  then  to  take 
the  words  of  this  ancient  prophecy,  and  still 
keeping  them  in  their  present  tense,  say,  as 
expressive  of  a  present  joy  and  a  present 
comfort,  "  Unto  us  a  Child  is  born ;  unto  us 
a  Son  is  given." 

It  was  some  seven  hundred  years  and  more 
prior  to  the  Nativity  that  Isaiah  uttered  this 
prophecy.  A  long  period ;  and  yet  by  direc- 
tion of  Him  to  Whom  "a  thousand  years  are 
but  as  yesterday,"  the  prophecy  conies  to  us 
speaking  in  the  present  tense.  More  than 
eighteen  hundred  years  are  passed  since  the 
prophecy  received  its  outward  fulfilment  in 
the  city  of  David,  more  than  twenty-five 
hundred  years  since  it  was  first  proclaimed  in 
Jerusalem  ;  and  still,  as  we  repeat  it,  we  keep 
proclaiming  the  fact  it  holds  as  a  present  fact, 
the  promise  it  offers  as  a  present  promise.  A 
thousand  years  hence,  Christian  men  and 


THE  INCARNATION  A  PRESENT  TACT.         15 

women  will  still  be  saying,  "  Unto  us  a  Child 
is  born  ;  unto  us  a  Son  is  given." 

Now  there  is  something  extremely  im- 
pressive in  the  Divine  expectation  thus  dis- 
closed, that  men  would  find  something  ever 
fresh  and  gladdening  in  this  fact  of  the  Incar- 
nation ;  that  instead  of  being  the  close  of  a 
promise  made  years  before,  a  settling  up,  as 
it  were,  of  God's  account  with  the  Church,  it 
would  prove  to  be  the  sign  and  the  means  of 
new  beginnings,  —  in  the  world's  history,  a 
beginning;  and  a  beginning  just  as  truly  in 
the  spiritual  history  of  every  true  Christian 
follower.  In  other  words,  God,  as  the  Psalm- 
ist has  expressed  it,  is  "  a  very  present  help 
in  trouble."  With  Him  it  is  now,  to-day,  if 
we  will  hear  his  voice;  fresh  help,  fresh  power. 
And  I  think  we  may  safely  say  that,  as  an 
aid  in  thinking  of  the  presence  and  the  sav- 
ing power  of  our  Lord  as  perpetual,  it  was 
intended  that  we  should  say,  "  Unto  us  a  Child 


16  HOLY  NAMES. 


is  born;  unto  us  a  Son  is  given."  That  is  to 
say,  the  Incarnation,  by  its  very  nature,  is  an 
event  which  affects  all  time,  all  places,  all 
men.  It  cannot  be  relegated  to  the  past.  It 
has  just  as  important  a  place  in  the  world's 
life  now,  as  on  that  night  when  the  multitude 
of  the  heavenly  host  poured  out  their  "  glory  to 
God  in  the  highest." 

For,  put  into  the  simplest  possible  form, 
the  Incarnation  means  God  yielding  Himself 
to  man ;  God  imparting  Himself  to  man,  tak- 
ing the  extreme,  the  one  last  step  which  had 
not  been  tried,  —  appearing  as  the  Word  made 
flesh,  as  the  Son  of  Man;  and,  on  this  basis 
of  visible  contact  and  companionship,  estab- 
lishing a  new  relationship  of  love  and  saving 
power.  As  the  sign  and  beginning  of  that 
new  communion  of  life  between  God  and 
His  children,  we  celebrate  that  ever-wonder- 
ful, ever-beautiful  act  by  which  it  was  inaugu- 
rated. In  thought,  we  abide  in  the  fields  with 


WITH  BETHLEHEM'S  SHEPHERDS.  17 

the  shepherds  once  more  as  they  keep  watch 
over  their  flocks  by  night.  In  thought,  we 
shrink  with  them  as  the  angel-figure  appears 
to  their  spiritual  sight,  and  proclaims  the 
good  tidings  of  great  joy.  In  thought,  we 
suddenly  see  the  sky  filled  with  a  shining 
host,  and  hear  the  song  that  has  since  sung 
itself  into  all  the  world.  In  thought,  we 
hear  the  timid  shepherds,  as  the  curtains  fall 
upon  their  dazed  senses,  asking  each  other 
what  these  things  mean ;  and  climb  the  an- 
cient terraces  with  them  as  they  hurry  to  the 
little  town  hard  by.  And  there  we  search 
with  them,  looking  for  the  sign.  What  sign  ? 
"A  babe  wrapped  in  swaddling  clothes,  lying 
in  a  manger." 

And  yet,  if  our  conception  of  this  event  be 
true,  —  the  sign  and  beginning  of  a  new  com- 
munion of  life  between  God  and  the  children 
of  men,  —  the  real  power  and  blessing  of  the 
Incarnation  is  greater  to-day  than  it  was  then. 
2 


18  HOLY  NAMES. 


By  its  very  nature,  this  new  communion 
gathers  in  strength  and  reality  the  longer  it 
exists.  The  older  it  grows,  the  fresher  it  be- 
comes. The  older  it  grows,  the  more  it  keeps 
expanding  and  unfolding  itself,  both  widening 
and  deepening  the  power  of  its  blessings.  So 
that  in  a  very  real  and  important  sense,  the 
Incarnation  is  more  fully  and  completely  a 
fact  to-day  than  it  was  when  the  Babe  of 
Bethlehem  was  wrapped  in  swaddling  clothes 
and  laid  in  a  manger.  The  fact,  not  less  than 
the  Child,  the  fact  of  God's  new  relationship 
with  humanity,  was  in  a  state  of  promise,  of 
beginning.  But  the  fact,  like  the  child,  was 
one  which  was  destined  to  grow. 

And  see !  the  ancient  prophecy  puts  the 
fact  of  Incarnation  as  present,  —  "  Unto  us  a 
Child  is  born ; "  but  the  power  of  it,  -the 
government  which  is  ultimately  to  rest  on 
the  Child's  shoulders,  that  is  not  at  once ; 
that  shall  come  with  growth,  with  increase. 


SACRED  TIES  AND  BONDS.  19 

And  very  wonderfully,  in  this  single  verse,  is 
sketched  a  succession  or  progression  of  states 
which  God  comes  to  assume  for  humanity  and 
for  every  individual.  Note  them :  He  shall 
be  called :  "  Wonderful,  Counsellor,  the  Mighty 
God,  the  everlasting  Father,  the  Prince  of 
Peace." 

As  indicating  what  is  to  be  undertaken  in 
succeeding  chapters,  let  me  sketch  this  pro- 
gression very  briefly  as  it  seems  to  me  to  shine 
out  in  the  Lord's  own  life  in  the  flesh.  We 
shall  then  easily  see  how  He  successively 
grows  into  these  different  relationships  with 
every  man,  who  is  gradually  developing  under 
the  influence  of  the  incarnate  life  of  God. 

At  the  time  of  the  Lord's  birth,  what  was 
He  to  those  who  looked  upon  Him  ?  A  won- 
der. He  was  not  yet  a  Counsellor,  a  God,  a 
Father,  nor  a  Prince.  But  He  was  a  wonder. 
Amazement  filled  the  hearts  of  these  simple 
shepherds.  This  child,  a  Saviour!  ay,  Christ 


20  HOLT  NAMES. 


the  Lord !  And  the  Virgin  Mother,  as  she 
heard  them  tell  of  the  song  in  the  heavens 
which  had  that  night  been  sung,  she,  too,  mar- 
velled, and  pondered  all  these  things  in  her 
heart.  And  see !  the  very  narrative  tells  us 
how  that  with  the  news  which  the  shepherds 
spread  abroad  that  night,  "  all  they  that  heard 
it  wondered."  To  the  temple  a  few  days  later 
the  Child  was  carried ;  and  when  the  aged 
Simeon  uttered  his  inspired  prophecy,  "Joseph 
and  His  Mother  [it  is  written]  marvelled  at 
those  things  which  were  spoken  of  Him." 
Yes,  the  Child  was  indeed  a  Wonder,  the  prom- 
ises and  hopes  of  years  centred  in  Him. 

And  then  what  is  the  next  stage  or  sign 
of  development  ?  In  the  temple  courts  He 
is  standing;  and  now  a  power  of  wisdom  is 
shining  out  of  the  eager  questions  and  an- 
swers which  issue  from  those  young  lips,  fill- 
ing the  gray-beard  teachers  with  astonishment. 
Once  more  we  see  Him  standing  in  the  little 


UNKNOWN   WISDOM.  21 

town  of  Nazareth,  iu  the  old  synagogue ;  and 
as  He  finishes  His  first  address,  this  was  the 
effect  it  produced :  "  And  all  bare  Him  wit- 
ness, and  wondered  at  the  gracious  words 
which  proceeded  out  of  His  mouth."  In- 
deed, one  of  the  early  questions  concerning 
Him  was,  "  Whence  hath  this  man  this  wis- 
dom ? "  The  people  were  astonished  at  His 
doctrine.  Here,  of  a  truth,  was  the  Coun- 
sellor, reading  the  thoughts  of  men's  hearts, 
answering  the  questions  which  they  put  to 
Him,  in  a  manner  that  often  excited  their 
admiration. 

But  the  growth  did  not  stop  there.  Very 
lovingly  but  firmly  He  began  to  show  forth 
the  power  of  God,  healing  the  sick,  perform- 
ing many  a  miracle,  and  exercising  the  divine 
right  of  forgiving  sin.  And  oftentimes  men 
knelt  down  to  Him  in  adoration ;  and  some- 
times the  whole  multitude  would  praise  God 
for  all  the  mighty  works  which  were  done 


22  HOLY  NAMES. 


by  Him.  And  as  the  end  drew  near,  the  ques- 
tion kept  narrowing  down  more  and  more  as 
to  whether  He  were  not  the  Son  of  God ;  and 
His  enemies  accused  Him  of  blasphemy,  because 
they  saw  more  and  more  clearly  that  He  was 
filling  the  functions  of  the  very  God  of  heaven. 
But  for  the  disciples,  and  others  who  were 
constantly  with  Him,  He  caine  to  fill  a  place 
more  wonderful  and  beautiful  than  that  of  a 
God  of  might.  Listen  to  His  conversation  on 
the  night  of  the  Last  Supper.  Note  His 
attitude  towards  the  loving  men  about  Him. 
There  is  but  one  word  that  will  adequately 
express  it,  —  fatherly.  They  were  reclining 
about  the  table,  sad  at  heart  because  of  the 
treachery  and  the  coming  death  which  He 
had  predicted.  Judas  rose  up  and  left  the 
room.  And  when  he  was  gone,  the  Lord, 
looking  around,  we  may  suppose,  upon  the 
men  who  were  there  sadly  clinging  to  Him, 
feeling  a  fatherly  compassion  for  them,  gently 


INTIMACIES  OF  DIVINE  LOVE.  23 

said,  "Little  children,  yet  a  little  while  I  am 
with  you."  "  Little  children ! "  In  His  thought 
and  feeling  to  them,  and  in  theirs  to  Him, 
He  had  become  as  a  Father.  They  depended 
upon  Him,  clung  to  Him  as  children  would 
do ;  and  it  must  have  been  a  moment,  which, 
with  all  the  sorrow,  contained  also  much  that 
was  precious,  when  He  could  feel  it  right  to 
say:  "Little  children.'' 

We  might  think  this  was  the  end;  but 
there  is  one  blessing  more,  the  very  fruit, 
shall  we  not  say,  of  all,  peace,  —  peace  of  heart. 
And  nearly  the  last  words  which  He  speaks 
to  His  disciples  —  even  after  He  has  called 
them  His  children  —  are,  "  Peace  I  leave  with 
you,  My  peace  I  give  unto  you."  And  His 
first  salutation  to  them,  as  they  are  assembled 
after  the  Resurrection,  is,  "  Peace  be  unto  you." 
And  as  a  sign  of  the  peace  which  comes  by 
His  Spirit,  He  breathed  on  them,  saying,  a  Re- 
ceive ye  the  Holy  Ghost." 


24  HOLY  NAMES. 


Look,  then,  how  beautifully  the  old  proph- 
ecy has  been  fulfilled.  Wonderful,  Counsellor, 
Mighty  God,  Father  Everlasting,  Prince  of 
Peace !  Quietly,  step  by  step,  He  has  as- 
cended into  each  one  of  these  relationships, 
until  at  the  close,  in  that  large  upper  room, 
He  calls  those  who  are  about  Him  His  "  little 
children,"  and  gives  them  His  peace. 

And  yet  this  is  but  the  sign  of  the  still 
larger  fact  which  we  must  ever  keep  before 
us.  What  the  Saviour  did  in  the  flesh,  is 
the  living  symbol  and  pledge  of  what  the 
incarnate  life  of  God  patiently  seeks  to  do 
for  us  and  for  all  humanity.  I  believe  this 
prophecy  means,  that,  step  by  step,  the  God- 
in-Christ  will  be  to  the  life  of  humanity 
what  the  Saviour,  while  in  the  flesh,  was  to 
those  about  Him.  And  if  this  be  true,  then 
here,  in  this  inspired  utterance  of  the  prophet, 
is  a  foreshadowing  of  the  history  of  the  growth 
and  development  of  the  truth  of  the  Christ-life 


THE  CHRIST-LIFE  IN  HUMANITY.  25 

in  the  world  of  humanity.  For  as  that  truth 
unfolds  and  gains  in  acceptance  and  power, 
the  Child,  the  Son,  the  God-with-us,  will  be- 
come, not  simply  by  name,  but  by  experience, 
the  Wonderful,  the  Counsellor,  the  Mighty 
God,  the  father  Everlasting,  the  Prince  ot 
Peace.  Here  seems  to  be  divinely  expressed 
a  magnificent  hope;  a  sublime  expectation; 
a  majestic  unfolding  of  what  God's  thought 
and  wish  towards  the  world  really  are. 

From  the  very  first,  the  Lord  has  been  as 
a  Wonder  unto  many.  And  yet,  it  might  be 
shown  that  even  this  state  has  its  successive 
stages.  One  may  be  simply  in  a  state  of 
amazed  perplexity  over  the  miraculous  fact 
of  the  Incarnation.  One  may  stand  in  rever- 
ent awe  before  the  thought,  the  mighty  pur- 
pose, which  the  fact  discloses.  Or  one  may 
wonder  and  praise  God  for  the  spiritual  power 
and  blessedness,  which  in  some  degree  he  be- 
gins to  feel  as  coming  from  this  incarnate 


26  HOLY  NAMES. 


life  of  God.  Much  of  this  wonder  and  rever- 
ential awe  the  Christian  Church  has  felt. 
Some  of  it  has  been  mixed  with  superstitions 
and  errors.  But  much  of  it  has  been  simple, 
earnest,  heartfelt  wonder.  And  may  we  not 
read  in  this  ancient  prophecy,  a  promise  that 
the  world  of  humanity  —  meaning  by  this, 
not  simply  the  world  of  religion,  but  of  a 
thoughtful,  patient,  truth-loving  science,  and 
of  a  diligent  philosophy  —  shall  come  to 
recognize  with  ever-increasing  wonder,  God 
in  humanity,  as  an  active,  ever-present  power 
in  the  life  of  our  world. 

But  we  must  press  on,  great  as  is  the  temp- 
tation to  pause  and  point  out  some  of  the  signs 
that  this  is  even  now  coming  to  pass.  For 
that  is  not  the  end.  There  are  higher  levels 
to  which  humanity,  according  to  our  prophecy, 
is  to  rise.  I  believe  this  prophecy  teaches 
that  a  time  is  coming,  when  those  who  seek 
for  spiritual  wisdom  shall  turn  with  a  new 


"LEARN  OF  ME."  27 

power  of  confidence  to  Him,  of  whom  it  was 
said,  "Never  man  spake  as  this  Man."  I  be- 
lieve that  one  effect  of  truer  doctrines  in  the 
Church  will  be  to  send  us  back  all  the  more 
directly  and  trustingly  to  the  life  and  teach- 
ing of  Jesus  Christ ;  and  that  more  and  more 
we  shall  find  there  "  the  words  of  eternal  life." 
Surely  we  are  only  in  the  beginnings  of  this 
kind  of  wisdom.  We  scarcely  realize  as  yet 
all  that  was  intended,  or  the  living  basis  of 
confidence  that  was  implied,  when  the  Christ 
said,  "Learn  of  Me."  But  as  we  have  fuller 
experience  in  realizing  how  this  incarnate  life 
does  reveal  spiritual  thoughts,  feelings,  trials, 
as  no  other  power  of  intelligence  can,  He 
shall  be  to  us  more  and  more  a  divine  Coun- 
sellor; and  we  shall  be  able  to  understand 
with  a  new  sense  of  certainty,  how,  through 
Him,  the  Word,  the  Logos,  the  very  creative 
Wisdom,  was  made  manifest,  and  accept  from 
His  lips  that  ever-to-be-remembered  testi- 


28  HOLY  NAMES. 


mony :  "  To  this  end  was  I  born,  and  for 
this  cause  came  I  into  the  world,  that  I  should 
bear  witness  to  the  Truth." 

And  see !  If  the  Christ-life  grows  thus  in 
its  sublime  power  of  wonder  and  counsel,  the 
surer  are  we  that  He  shall  exercise  yet  an- 
other power,  higher  than  either,  yet  growing 
out  of  both.  The  Lord's  miracles  and  benefi- 
cent works  were  often  spoken  of  as  signs. 
Signs  of  what  ?  The  mighty  power  of  God. 
"  No  man  can  do  these  things  which  Thou  do- 
est,"  men  were  bound  to  exclaim,  "  except  God 
be  with  Him."  And  while  the  Pharisees  tried 
to  raise  the  suspicion  that  He  might  be  work- 
ing through  evil  power,  the  effort  was  una- 
vailing. "Can  a  devil  open  the  eyes  of  the 
blind  ? "  it  was  demanded.  And  the  question 
was  never  answered.  And  when,  as  seems 
certain,  the  Christ-life  shall  so  establish  itself 
among  men  as  to  exercise  its  power  to  cast 
out  devils,  to  heal  wounds,  to  restore  neglected 


CROWNING  BLESSINGS.  29 

powers,  we  shall  feel  more  and  more  that  here 
is  the  very  might  of  God. 

Dare  we  hope  for  anything  more  ?  Oh,  let 
us  not  hesitate  to  give  to  this  prophecy  full 
scope,  and  hold  it  as  a  promise  laid  up  for 
humanity,  that  men,  who  have  learned  to  feel 
that  in  the  Lord  incarnate  there  is  that  mani- 
festation and  embodiment  of  that  Divine  life, 
wisdom,  power,  which  cause  them  to  think 
of  Him,  as  Wonderful,  Counsellor,  Mighty  God, 
shall  also  have  an  inward  experience  that  the 
communion  of  life  from  Him  to  them,  the 
relation  which  He  sustains  to  them  in  every 
spiritual  experience  through  which  they  pass, 
is  as  near,  as  tender,  as  faithful  as  that  which 
a  true  father  bears  to  his  child. 

And  then,  as  the  crowning  blessing,  will 
come  the  realization  that  the  Lord  is  the 
Prince  of  Peace ;  that  through  His  might 
there  are  no  fears,  no  temptations,  which  can- 
not be  subdued ;  even  as  the  wind  and  the 


30  HOLT  NAMES. 


sea  sank  into  a  calm  at  His  command;  and 
that  as  the  last  best  gift  of  God  to  men,  there 
is  given  to  those  who  have  faithfully  lived 
and  conquered  by  His  Spirit,  a  joy  and  rest 
of  soul  which  does  not  pass  away  but  abideth 
forever. 

This  same  spiritual  development  might  be 
outlined  as  applying  to  our  present  and  indi- 
vidual life  and  experience.  These  names,  — 
Wonderful,  Counsellor,  Mighty  God,  Father 
Everlasting,  Prince  of  Peace,  —  they  stand  out 
like  great  white  mile-stones  on  our  spiritual 
journey.  In  a  life  that  is  growing  freely  and 
steadily,  they  mark  clearly  defined  stages  of 
our  spiritual  growth. 

The  Lord,  in  our  first  acceptance  of  Him 
and  in  our  first  efforts  to  follow  Him,  should 
be  to  us  the  Wonderful;  inspiring  simple, 
delighted,  trustful  awe  for  all  that  He  came 
to  do  and  be.  But  He  should  come  to  be 
our  Counsellor;  to  whom  it  is  still  meet  we 


YOUTH'S  COUNSELLOR.  31 

should  run  and  kneel,  and  ask  youth's  best 
question:  "What  shall  I  do  that  I  may  in- 
herit eternal  life."  As  with  his  growing  life, 
a  young  man  learns  of  the  men  who,  by  force 
of  arms,  or  of  genius,  or  of  intellect,  have  been 
leaders  in  the  world;  as  ways  of  knowledge 
open,  and  the  conflict  of  human  opinion  sets 
him  to  questioning  and  even  doubting,  the 
greater  the  need  of  keeping  himself  true  to 
one  Counsellor,  who  laid  upon  youth  a  simple 
rule  of  duty,  "  If  thou  wilt  enter  into  life, 
keep  the  Commandments." 

And  then  come  the  labors,  not  merely  nor 
chiefly  of  the  hands,  but  of  the  brain  and  the 
heart  of  manhood;  an  unsubdued  power  of 
selfishness  to  be  grappled  with ;  temptations 
without  number  to  be  resisted ;  disappointed 
hopes  to  be  borne ;  trials  to  be  endured ;  pros- 
perity, it  may  be,  to  be  experienced  without 
pride,  or  selfish  indulgence,  or  the  stifling  of 
simple,  religious  states  of  trust  and  love.  Ah, 


HOLY  NAMES. 


how  sorely,  when  we  are  fairly  entered  into 
this  battling,  baffling  period  of  life,  do  we  need 
the  good  right  arm  of  "  the  Mighty  God  "  ! 

And  when  the  Lord  has  been  to  a  man  a 
mighty  God  in  this  sense;  when  evils,  which 
were  so  hard  to  meet,  gradually  are  conquered ; 
when,  according  to  the  prophetic  symbol,  the 
heart  of  stone,  under  the  wonderful  touch  of 
those  kindly  hands,  is  changed  into  a  heart 
of  flesh ;  and  the  man,  for  all  his  hard  expe- 
riences, becomes  more  tender,  more  sensitive 
to  good,  more  willing  to  act  from  that  good, 
then  his  relations  with  the  Lord  must  become 
more  as  the  relation  of  the  disciples  with  their 
Master  during  the  last  days,  when  He  thought 
of  them,  and  spoke  of  them,  as  "  little  children." 
What  that  inward  relationship  of  love  really 
is,  many  of  us  cannot  yet  know.  But  a  fore- 
taste of  it  we  may  have  at  the  communion 
table;  and  through  that  sacramental  act, 
which  so  beautifully  expresses  our  depend- 


REST  OF  SOUL.  33 


euce  on  Him  for  whatever  is  good  and  true, 
we  may  feel  and  know  that  there  is  a  com- 
munion of  life,  an  interchange,  may  we  not 
say,  of  affection  and  thought ;  poor  and  clumsy 
on  our  part ;  strong,  tender,  undying,  on  His. 

And  there,  too,  in  the  holy  calm  that  belongs 
to  the  communion-hour,  —  the  selfish,  worldly 
thoughts  put  by,  the  uncharitable  feelings 
kept  down ;  trying  to  think,  to  feel  in  com- 
mon what  the  Lord  desires  His  life  to  be  to 
us,  —  there,  we  may  gain  some  slight  expe- 
rience of  what  it  would  be  for  us  to  be  in 
such  a  state  of  life  that  the  Lord  might  ever 
be  our  Prince  of  Peace. 

Once  more  recall  those  names :  Wonderful, 
Counsellor,  Mighty  God,  Father  Everlasting, 
Prince  of  Peace.  And  may  the  Lord  be  with 
us  in  every  effort  to  ascend  this  shining  way! 


THE   LORD   AS   THE  WONDERFUL. 


How  silently,  how  silently 

The  wondrous  gift  is  given  ! 
So  God  imparts  to  human  hearts 

The  blessings  of  His  heaven. 
No  ear  "may  hear  his  coining, 

But  in  this  world  of  sin, 
Where  meek  souls  will  receive  Him  still 

The  dear  Christ  enters  in. 

PHILLIPS  BROOKS. 


€jje  ilotrt)  a£  tfje  t&ottfcerfuL 

* 

"  And  His  name  shall  be  called  Wonderful." 


T  T  TE  are  to  attempt  to  sketch  in  this  and 
subsequent  chapters  the  development 
of  the  Christ-life  in  humanity,  using  as  a 
guide  the  prophecy  which  declared  that  the 
Child,  upon  whose  shoulder  the  government 
shall  rest,  shall  be  called  Wonderful,  Coun- 
sellor, the  Mighty  God,  the  Father  Everlast- 
ing, the  Prince  of  Peace.  By  the  "  Christ-life  " 
we  mean  the  very  Divine  Life  itself  as  mani- 
fested and  brought  forth  in  the  person  of  Jesus 
Christ  our  Lord.  By  "humanity"  we  mean 
that  life  of  affection,  thought,  action,  proper 
to  us  as  human  beings.  The  development  of 
the  Christ-life  in  humanity  means,  then,  in 


38  HOLY  NAMES. 


the  sense  in  which  we  are  using  these  terms, 
the  conscious  acceptance  in  increasing  fulness, 
and  on  successively  higher  planes,  of  the  Lord's 
life  in  our  own. 

For  consider  the  very  first  declaration  of 
this  wonderful  prophecy :  "  Unto  us  a  Child 
is  born ;  unto  us  a  Son  is  given."  Doubtless, 
the  words  were  written  so,  that  one  genera- 
tion equally  with  another  might  know  and 
believe  that  the  Incarnation,  which  we  may 
think  of  as  the  sign  and  beginning  of  a  new 
communion  of  life  between  God  and  His 
children,  was  for  the  sake  of  all  men.  And 
not  only  that:  as  expressive  of  God's  near 
relationship  with  humanity,  the  Incarnation 
exists  as  an  ever-present  fact,  which  makes 
its  appeal  to  every  human  being  that  can  be 
brought  to  "  hear  the  joyful  sound."  But  by 
its  very  nature,  this  new  relationship,  this 
great  fact  of  the  "  God-with-us."  is  one  which 
must  grow.  Gradually,  as  ways  are  opened, 


GROWING  BENEFITS.  39 

it  must  expand  and  unfold  itself.  Gradually, 
as  men's  hearts  grow  more  friendly  towards 
it,  it  must  wid<_n  and  deepen  the  power  of 
its  blessings.  So  that,  as  has  previously  been 
pointed  out,  while  the  fact  of  Incarnation  is 
put  as  present, —  "  Unto  us  a  Child  is  born,"- 
the  power  of  it,  the  government  which  is  to 
rest  on  the  Child's  shoulder,  that  is  not  at 
once,  but  comes  with  growth,  with  increase, 
mounting  up  through  a  succession  or  progres- 
sion of  states  and  relationships  which  God 
comes  to  assume  for  every  man,  and  which 
are  so  wonderfully  described  by  these  Divine 
names :  Wonderful,  Counsellor,  Mighty  God, 
Father  Everlasting,  Prince  of  Peace. 

Here,  then,  is  a  fact  of  immense  importance 
for  Christian  people  to  consider:  the  real  and 
immediate  presence  of  God.  Think  of  the 
Divine  Life  as  a  direct  going  forth  of  the 
creative  love  and  wisdom  of  God  upon  every 
plane  and  degree  of  existence.  Think  of  it 


40  HOLY  NAMES. 


as  raying  out  from  One  who  so  accommodated, 
and,  so  to  say,  extended  His  infinite  nature 
as  to  occupy,  and  thus  include  within  Him- 
self, this  plane  of  existence  in  which  we 
now  are ;  rather  than  as  proceeding  from  One 
so  remote  from  our  present  conditions  that 
He  cannot  be  touched  with  a  feeling  of  our 
infirmities,  cannot,  from  any  experience  within 
Himself,  know  our  frame  and  remember  that 
we  are  dust.  For  that  nearer  and  more  im- 
mediate communion  of  life  is  what  was  ac- 
complished ultimately  by  the  Incarnation. 
The  birth  of  Jesus  Christ,  the  ministry  of 
Jesus  Christ,  was  not  the  coming  of  a  Person 
separate  from  God,  who  should  take  His  place, 
nor  act  even  as  a  kind  of  champion  for  us. 
Think  of  this,  rather,  as  the  one  long  promised, 
long  expected  means  by  which  the  Divine 
should  become  God-with-us. 

See.1     This  Humanity,  for  all  it  was  so  like 
our  humanities   in   the   experiences   which   it 


THE  SOUL  A  LIVING   ORGANISM.  41 

voluntarily  shared  with  the  children  of  men, 

was,  as  we  believe,  and  as  the  Gospels  declare, 

« 
conceived,  not  of  man,  but  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 

In  conception,  that  which  is  slowly  developed 
into  a  human  being,  or  soul,  is  a  living  organ- 
ism, composed  of  altogether  spiritual  sub- 
stances. Gradually  that  primitive  form,  or 
spiritual  mind,  becomes  enveloped  and  pro- 
tected within  successive  clothings,  until  the 
mother,  from  the  substances  of  the  natural 
world,  silently  weaves  the  swathes  and  cover- 
ings which  are  to  serve  as  a  natural  or  phy- 
sical body,  and  make  possible  its  entrance  into 
this  outer  world.  But  when  we  speak  of  the 
Incarnation,  we  are  carefully  to  remember  that 
this  primitive  form  was  not,  as  with  us,  de- 
rived from  a  human  father,  but  was  formed 
or  moulded  by  the  Divine;  formed,  as  with 
men,  of  those  altogether  invisible  and  purest 
substances  of  the  spiritual  world ;  formed, 
therefore,  we  may  be  sure,  with  a  perfection 


42  HOLY  NAMES. 


never  present  with  us,  and  with  a  richness 
and  fulness  of  spiritual  good  and  truth,  which 
also  marks  a  distinction  between  that  and  all 
other  humanities  in  their  first  state  at  birth. 
Moreover,  we  are  ever  to  remember  that  the 
very  inmost,  that  which  in  us  first  receives 
life  from  the  Divine,  and  is  above  the  plane 
of  our  consciousness,  was  in  the  Lord's  Hu- 
manity not  a  created  form  recipient  of  life, 
as  with  man,  but  it  was  the  very  Divine  Life 
itself. 

In  first  principles,  then,  the  Humanity,  we 
may  say,  was  Divine.  Without  the  usual 
agency  of  a  human  fatherhood,  and  thus, 
avoiding  the  taint  and  limitations  which  go 
with  such  a  fatherhood,  and  which  are  never 
wholly  obliterated,  these  primitive  and  alto- 
gether invisible  substances,  these  first  things 
in  the  creation  of  a  human  organism,  were 
divinely  gathered  and  moulded  into  that  primi- 
tive form  which  the  Virgin  Mary  clothed  with 


"  CONCEIVED   OF  THE  HOLY  GHOST."          43 

a  body.  More  richly  stored  than  with  any 
man ;  pure  and  true  with  the  purity  and  truth 
belonging  to  the  heavens ;  gathered  and  formed 
by  a  power  of  wisdom  that  does  not  err,  this 
initial  or  primitive  mind  was  indeed,  as  the 
Gospels  declare,  a  "holy  thing."  Only  in 
the  outer  clothing  of  the  natural  mind  and 
in  the  successive  wrappings  furnished  by  the 
woman-nature,  did  it  share  our  weakness.  But 
primarily,  essentially,  it  was  born  with  the 
capacity  of  becoming  Divine,  through  the  re- 
moval of  whatever  was  imperfect  or  limiting 
and  through  complete  union  with  the  Divine. 

And  now  think  of  this  mind  and  nature  to 
which  we  give  the  general  name  "Humanity," 
formed,  we  may  properly  say,  under  the  Divine 
auspices,  not  avoiding  the  way  of  entrance 
into  this  world  by  which  we  all  have  come, 
and  yet  taking  its  start,  receiving  its  very 
first  or  primitive  form,  from  the  very  Divine 
Itself,  —  think  of  this  Humanity  as  specially 


44  HOLY  NAMES. 


created  that  it  might  become  the  perfect  in- 
strument by  which  the  Divine  might  come 
and  dwell  among  us.  Through  many  ages 
Jehovah  God  had  filled  angels  with  His 
Spirit,  and  so  had  made  Himself  present 
throughout  the  universal  heavens.  And  me- 
diately through  the  heavens,  His  Spirit  had 
gone  forth  to  the  sons  of  men.  But  a  time 
came,  according  to  prophecy,  when  a  cloud 
of  iniquity  spread  itself  between  God  and 
humanity,  so  dark,  so  dense,  as  to  become 
almost  impenetrable  to  the  purer  influences 
from  above.  And  then  the  Lord  God  took  the 
last,  the  extreme  step ;  "  bowed  the  heavens," 
as  the  Scripture  expresses  it,  "and  came 
down,"  —  not  as  at  Sinai,  with  lightning-flash 
and  thunder-clap  ;  not  by  suddenly  standing 
upon  the  earth  in  the  fulness  of  His  glory ; 
but,  as  the  Scriptures  had  long  ago  declared, 
by  the  seed  of  a  woman,  — by  the  formation 
and  birth  of  the  Humanity  of  Jesus  Christ; 


SON  OF  MAN  AND  SON  OF  GOD.  45 

to  be  the  special  instrument,  by  which  in 
time  the  very  love  and  wisdom  and  spirit  of 
God  might  gradually  come  down  into  these 
humbler  planes  of  life  in  which  men  dwell, 
and  become  so  established  in  them  as  hence- 
forth always  to  exert  an  immediate  and  saving 
influence  upon  them. 

Very  like  our  humanities,  in  all  that  per- 
tains to  the  growth  of  the  natural  body  and 
the  natural  mind,  was  the  Humanity  of  our 
Lord.  The  same  tenderness  and  helplessness 
of  the  infantile  body;  the  same  possibility  of 
weariness,  hunger,  thirst,  pain;  the  same  ex- 
posure, too,  in  the  lower  planes  of  the  mind, 
to  the  assaults  of  evil,  resulting  in  internal 
struggle,  temptation,  and  combat.  And  yet, 
while  humbly,  ay,  most  gratefully  acknowl- 
edging this  strange  likeness,  which  makes 
such  appeal  to  our  faith  and  love,  we  should 
never  forget  that  tmlikeness,  that  difference, 
by  which  the  Lord  could  be  not  simply  Son 


46  HOLY  NAMES. 


of  Man,  ("man  of  sorrows  and  acquainted 
with  grief!"),  but  also,  in  the  strictest  and 
highest  sense,  Son  of  God,  having  all  power 
in  heaven  and  on  earth.  We  should  ever  re- 
member that,  differently  from  us,  that  primi- 
tive form  or  mind,  around  which  the  mother 
simply  weaves  the  clothings  proper  to  the 
natural  world,  was  divinely  begotten.  In  it, 
therefore,  was  no  such  limitation  or  inherent 
imperfection  as  belongs  to  us.  Eather,  it  was 
born  with  the  capacity  of  becoming  divine, 
through  union  with  the  Divine,  and  through  the 
removal  of  what,  in  a  relative  sense,  we  speak 
of  as  imperfections.  For  even  "  the  heavens 
are  not  clean  in  His  sight." 

And  so  we  think  of  this  Humanity  of  Jesus 
Christ  as  so  formed  and  born  as  to  be  able  to 
serve  as  a  perfect  instrument  by  which  the 
Lord  God  might  come  and  dwell  among  us ; 
might  so  express  and  adapt  His  love ;  might 
so  shape  and  accommodate  His  truth  ;  might, 


BOWING  THE  HEAVENS  AND  COMING  DOWN.    47 

in  a  word,  so  set  Himself  to  our  human  con- 
ditions and  needs,  as  to  establish  Himself  in 
this  plane  of  existence,  and  forever  after  sus- 
tain a  relationship  as  near  and  immediate  to 
men  of  the  earth  as  to  angels  of  highest 
heaven. 

Gradually  this  was  accomplished.  Gradu- 
ally the  Divine  Life  of  love  and  wisdom  came 
into  the  several  planes  which  by  incarnation 
existed  in  the  Humanity  of  Jesus  Christ,  re- 
moved whatever  was  limiting  or  imperfect  in 
them,  and  made  them  Divine.  First,  those 
which  were  inmost  or  highest,  and  on  a  line, 
may  we  not  say,  with  the  life  of  the  holiest 
angels  ;  then  those  next  below.  And  thus  in 
this  invisible  and  quiet  way,  the  Divine  kept 
coming  down  into  these  planes  of  life  in  which 
angels  are ;  established  Himself  in  those  de- 
grees, making  them  Divine  in  Himself,  removing 
every  least  imperfection,  filling  them,  glorify- 
ing them,  making  them  one  with  Himself. 


48      „  HOLY  NAMES. 


And  later  on,  this  same  process  began  to  take 
place  in  the  lower  degrees  of  thought  and 
affection,  —  those  in  which  we  now  are.  And 
here  the  process  was  more  slow.  For  here, 
there  were  more  imperfections.  Here,  too, 
there  was  a  stronger  appearance  of  separate- 
ness  from  the  God  from  whom  the  Humanity 
was  living.  Here  were  direct  assaults  from 
evil  spirits ;  here  were  experienced  the  de- 
spising and  rejecting  of  men ;  here,  amid  depths 
of  sorrow  and  anguish  which  we  cannot 
fathom,  was  the  putting  away  of  every  least 
thought  or  wish  which  loving  friends,  which 
cruel  enemies,  which  bodily  dangers,  ay,  which 
"  the  pains  of  hell "  could  prompt,  and  which 
looked  to  self-vindication,  to  self-preservation 
even.  And  here,  in  these  lower  planes  of 
thought  and  affection,  which  we  find  it  so 
difficult  to  even  moderately  control,  and 
which  lie  so  near  to  the  senses  of  the  body, 
as  easily  to  be  seduced  by  its  fallacies  and 


MAKING   THE  HUMANITY  DIVINE.  49 

appetites,  —  here,  too,  was  carried  on  that  same 
process,  which  we  have  thought  of  as  taking 
place  in  the  higher  or  heavenly  degrees. 
Every  imperfection,  every  human  or  earthly 
limitation  was  removed,  until  here,  too,  in  the 
planes  of  life  in  which  we  now  are,  not  ex- 
cepting even  the  physical,  the  divine  of  the 
Lord  became  established.  These  degrees  of 
life  were  made  divine  in  Himself;  so  that  His 
last  words  to  the  world  were :  "  Lo,  I  am  with 
you  always."  And  this,  too,  is  His  promise  : 
"  Where  two  or  three  are  gathered  together  in 
my  name,  there  am  I  in  the  midst  of  them." 
"  In  the  midst, "  —  not  spiritually  far  away, 
but  right  here  in  these  very  planes  and  de- 
grees in  which  we  are  thinking  and  feeling. 

Whether  the  explanations  which  have  been 
offered  in  this  chapter  have  in  any  way  helped 
to  make  this  great  and  fundamental  doctrine 
of  the  Incarnation  of  the  Humanity  of  Jesus 
Christ  more  intelligible  to  the  reader,  we  can 


50  HOLY  NAMES. 


not  know.  But  if  anything  has  been  said 
which  has  made  this  truth  seem  a  little  clearer, 
I  am  sure  we  shall  agree  as  to  why,  in  that 
brief  but  expressive  list  of  names,  the  signifi- 
cance of  which  we  are  to  study,  the  very 
first  appellation  to  be  applied  to  the  Child 
of  Bethlehem,  should  be  "the  Wonderful." 
Wonderfully,  indeed,  was  He  given  ;  and  won- 
derful the  purpose  for  which  He  came.  Even 
those  who  knew  no  more  than  that  a  Saviour 
had  been  born  felt  something  of  that  strange 
wonder  with  which  even  now  we  turn  to  this 
ever-living  fact.  Amazement  filled  the  hearts 
of  the  simple  shepherds.  And  all  to  whom  they 
broke  the  news  that  night  wondered.  Joseph 
marvelled,  as  the  aged  Simeon,  with  the  child 
in  his  arms,  poured  out  the  prophecy  concern- 
ing Him.  But  with  an  awe  yet  deeper,  the 
Virgin  mother,  from  whose  lips  I  doubt  not  we 
have  all  these  tender  narratives  of  the  birth 
and  early  days;  she,  "  the  highly  favored,"  kept 


THE   WONDERFUL.  51 

all  these   things  and   pondered   them   in   her 
heart. 

And  the  thought  comes :  We  must  not  let 
the  wonderfulness  die  out  of  this  ever-blessed 
story.  In  the  present  unwillingness  to  accept 
as  truth  anything  which  cannot  be  demon- 
strated to  be  such  to  or  by  the  senses ;  in  the 
present  craze  for  evolving  truth  out  of  the 
collected  experiences  of  mankind,  and  ignoring, 
as  childish,  truths  and  knowledges  which  are 
given  as  a  revelation  from  above,  we  shall  do 
well  to  remember  that  it  was  declared  of  the 
Child  of  Bethlehem,  "  His  name  shall  be 
called,  Wonderful."  We  would  not  keep  the 
Incarnation  as  a  mystery.  We  believe  that  it 
is  possible  for  the  spiritual  intelligence  to  see 
the  truthfulness  of  it.  We  believe  it  is  even 
possible  for  the  spiritual  intelligence  to  under- 
stand in  a  degree  how  the  Incarnation  could  be 
true.  But  even  for  such,  the  fact,  the  Child, 
the  near  and  perfect  relationship  into  which 


52  HOLY  NAMES. 


the  Lord  has  come,  should  awaken  and  keep 
awake  a  sense  of  wonder.  These  words  are 
written,  well  knowing  that  the  natural  rea- 
son of  man,  which  looks  no  further  than  to 
nature  for  causes,  is  by  instinct  sceptical  of 
anything  which  presents  itself  as  a  distinctly 
spiritual  fact ;  and  that  those  who  look  no  fur- 
ther than  into  the  substances  of  nature  for 
the  origins  of  life,  are  declaring  the  impossibil- 
ity of  the  virgin-birth.  But  remember,  we  are 
standing  merely  on  the  plane  of  effects,  not 
causes;  and  he  is  but  a  sensualist  who  will 
not  let  his  thought,  his  faith,  rise  to  a  plane  of 
life  and  of  truth  where  the  senses,  instead  of 
asserting  themselves  as  masters,  are  well  con- 
tent to  be  as  servants,  bringing  to  the  spiritual 
intelligence  such  materials  as  are  available  for 
the  illustration  and  confirmation  of  divine 
things. 

To  preserve  a  faith  in  the  actuality  of  the 
Divine,  to   stand    before    it   in    reverence,  is 


REVERE  THE  HIGHEST.  53 

surely  a  blessing,  and  one  which,  under  right 
conditions,  cannot  but  exert  a  powerful  influ- 
ence upon  the  inner  workings  of  a  man's  life. 
To  lose  that  faith,  —  for  one  may  lose  it, — to 
turn  to  nature  or  to  self  as  a  god,  is  to  shut 
up  the  heaven  of  the  soul  Revere  the  high- 
est !  Eevere  the  best !  Have  faith  in  the 
wonderful ! 

And  somehow  this  hope  comes :  although 
many  may  not  acknowledge  with  their  lips  the 
Divinity  of  the  Lord ;  although  they  may  not 
in  their  thought  rationally  perceive  it,  still,  to 
nearly  every  man  or  woman  who  at  heart  is 
trying  to  lead  the  Christian  life,  the  Saviour 
is  inwardly  cherished  as  the  Wonderful;  the 
fullest,  the  most  perfect  embodiment  of  the 
divine  life  among  men.  Call  Him  a  man 
among  men  ;  and  yet  there  is  no  Christian  but 
would  deem  it  a  sacrilege  to  claim  equality 
with  Jesus  of  Nazareth.  Something  here  that 
is  different ;  that  never  seems  to  lose  its  per- 


54  HOLY  NAMES. 


feet  height ;  something  that  men  keep  coming 
back  to  with  new  questions,  with  fresh  expla- 
nations ;  something  that  affords  a  view  of  the 
Divine  Life  as  it  can  be  seen  nowhere  else ; 
something  that  keeps  drawing  out  the  deepest 
confidences  of  the  human  heart.  It  is  well 
so ;  for,  as  the  Psalmist  says,  "  The  fear  [that  is, 
the  reverence]  of  the  Lord  is  the  beginning  of 
wisdom."  First,  "  the  Wonderful."  Let  the 
children's  first  thought  and  knowledge  of  Him 
who  came  even  as  a  child,  be  of  His  perfect 
wisdom  and  love.  Let  them  feel  that  through 
Baptism  they  are  to  bear  His  Name,  and  as 
the  old  baptismal  service  puts  it,  "  continue 
Christ's  faithful  soldiers  and  servants  unto 
their  life's  end."  Other  names  will  be  spoken 
into  their  ears,  as  youth  advances ;  the  deeds  of 
many  a  hero  whom  the  world  holds  dear  in  its 
memory  will  be  recounted.  Shall  these  dim 
the  brightness  of  that  earlier  vision  of  per- 
fect life  ?  The  gentleness,  the  truth,  the 


THE  SUPREMACY  OF  THE  CHRIST.  55 

faithfulness  of  it ;  the  holiness  of  purpose ; 
the  revelation  made  here  of  what  God  is  and  of 
what  man  should  be;  of  the  power  of  self- 
sacrifice,  of  the  sacredness  of  service, — shall  He 
who  embodied  all  this  and  more  than  this,  ever 
cease  to  be  to  our  thought  "  the  "Wonderful  ?  " 
And  if  we  should  see  in  Him  something  more 
than  man,  than  hero,  than  example ;  if  we 
should  see  in  His  Humanity  the  perfect  instru- 
ment, "  conceived  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  born  of 
the  Virgin  Mary,"  capable  of  being  glorified 
and  of  being  the  means  by  which  the  very  Di- 
vine Life  of  love  and  wisdom  could  gain  and 
forever  retain  an  immediate  presence  with  men 
on  earth,  —  would  the  wonder  grow  any  less  ? 
For  such,  has  not  the  Psalmist  rightly  spoken : 
"  I  will  remember  the  works  of  the  Lord  : 
surely  I  will  remember  thy  wonders  of  old  ? " 


THE   LORD   AS   THE   COUNSELLOR. 


IN  the  way  that  He  shall  choose 

He  will  teach  us, 
Not  a  lesson  we  shall  lose, 

All  shall  reach  us. 

Strange  and  difficult  indeed 

We  may  find  it, 
But  the  blessing  that  we  need 

Is  behind  it. 

All  the  lessons  He  shall  send 

Are  the  sweetest, 
And  His  training,  in  the  end, 

Is  completest. 

HAVEEGAL. 


Cfje  Horti  a#  tfje  Counsellor, 

* 

"  And  His  name  shall  be  called  .  .  .    Counsellor" 


T)Y  the  Lord  as  the  Counsellor,  we  think 
•*-^  of  Him  with  special  reference  to  His 
making  the  Divine  Truth  known  to  men. 
With  the  ordinary  teacher,  we  should  think 
of  this  as  involving  the  learning  of  facts  and 
principles,  rationally  apprehending  them,  and 
then  imparting  them  to  others.  We  should 
think  of  the  teacher  as  one  who  serves  as  a 
mediator  between  Truth  on  the  one  hand, 
and  those  who  are  in  ignorance  of  it  on  the 
other.  Moreover  we  should  think  of  the 
Truth  as  not  only  separate  from,  but  as  supe- 
rior to  the  Teacher. 

Now,  turn  for  a  moment  to  the  Gospel  of 
St.  John.     As  the   apostles   linger  about  the 


60  HOLT  NAMES. 


table  of  the  Last  Supper,  weighed  down  by 
the  thought  that  He  is  to  be  betrayed  and 
withdrawn  from  them,  He,  trying  to  revive 
their  drooping  spirits,  tells  them  that  although 
He  is  going  from  their  sight,  He  is  in  reality 
going  to  prepare  a  place  for  them,  where,  by 
a  way  which  they  know,  they  may  rejoin 
Him.  And  one  honest  soul,  not  ashamed  to 
show  his  ignorance,  and  feeling,  no  doubt,  that 
he  would  rather  keep  Him  as  He  was  with 
them  there  than  run  this  chance  of  a  reunion 
after  death,  bluntly  declares  that  they  know 
neither  the  place  nor  the  way  of  which  He 
is  speaking.  We  can  easily  imagine  that  this 
declaration  was  either  openly  or  silently  ac- 
quiesced in  by  all.  And  here  did  indeed  seem 
to  be  a  fatal  obstacle  to  that  quiet  certainty 
of  heart,  which  the  Lord  was  trying  to  estab- 
lish among  them.  Here  was  that  spirit  of 
doubt  and  spiritual  ignorance,  which  so  often 
springs  up  in  the  human  heart,  and  just  as 


"HOW  C4N   WE  KNOW  THE   WAY?"          61 

the  Divine  consolations  seem  likely  to  become 
complete,  and  the  portal  of  death  is  quietly 
swinging  open  to  reveal  itself  as  a  way  to 
eternal  life,  waives  faith  back,  and  cries,  as 
if  to  one  who  has  disappeared  behind  that 
portal,  "We  know  not  whither  thou  goest; 
and  how  can  we  know  the  way?" 

What  feelings  that  cry  of  Thomas  awakened 
in  the  Lord's  heart,  as  they  sat  there  on  that 
last  night,  in  the  quiet  upper  chamber,  who 
shall  tell  ?  Three  years  He  had  taught  Thomas 
Didymus  and  his  fellow-disciples.  What  more 
could  be  said  ?  "  We  know  not  whither  Thou 
goest ;  and  how  can  we  know  the  way  ? " 
There  they  seemed  to  have  to  part  from  Him. 
And  then,  as  they  listened,  there  was  made 
an  answer  far  more  wonderful  than  the  promise 
He  had  just  held  out  to  them.  Few  and  sim- 
ple the  words  are;  and  yet  no  saint,  no  sage, 
no  reformer,  no  prophet,  nor  seer  of  whom  we 
have  ever  heard,  has  thought  to  utter  those 


HOLY  NAMES. 


words.     Ponder  them  I   "  I  am   the  Way,  the 
Truth,  and  the  Life." 

It  has  been  the  claim  of  many  a  wise  and 
devout  man,  that  he  could  point  out  the  right 
way ;  could  make  known  the  truth ;  could 
lead  the  inquirer  to  the  true  source  of  life. 
But  who  has  ever  deliberately  said  :  "  I  am  the 
Way,  the  Truth,  the  Life  ? "  We  will  narrow 
our  inquiry  down  to  the  one  term  which  im- 
mediately concerns  our  subject.  Who  has  ever 
said,  "  /  am  the  Truth  !  "  Truth,  which  in  its 
purest  and  naked  principles  exists  neither  with 
men,  nor  angels,  but  with  God  only !  Truth, 
which  is  the  order  itself  underlying  the  Lord's 
Kingdom ;  nay,  which  is  the  veriest  reality  in 
the  universe ;  the  form  of  the  very  Divine 
Love  or  Life,  forever  guiding  it  in  its  creative, 
regenerating  work;  that  internal  light,  yea, 
that  substance  of  substances,  by  the  reception 
of  which  man  becomes  man !  Think  of  Truth 
in  this  its  large  and  exalted  meaning,  and  not 


THE  CHRIST  AND   THE  TRUTH.  63 

simply  as  a  little  book-knowledge,  or  some  pet 
idea  or  doctrine  which  one  has  fondly  labelled 
as  "  truth,"  and  then  turn  to  this  Figure  who 
quietly  says,  "I  am  the  Truth!" 

Do  we  say  or  think,  "The  Lord  could  not 
have  used  this  language  in  so  important  a 
sense."  Ah,  was  it  not  the  case  that  men's 
thoughts  and  interpretations  were  always  fall- 
ing far  short  of  His  meaning  ?  And  do  we 
imagine  that  in  this  instance  we  are  a  little 
ahead  of  Him ;  and  that  He  little  knew  what 
was  involved  in  this  identity  between  Him- 
self and  the  Truth  ?  And  was  He  also  falling 
short  of  the  full  meaning  of  His  words  when 
He  said :  "  I  am  the  Light  of  the  world ! "  or, 
"The  words  that  I  speak  unto  you,  they  are 
spirit  and  they  are  life?"  Was  He  speaking 
below  the  range  of  our  best  thought,  when 
He  made  His  identity  with  the  Truth  the 
very  ground  of  His  divine  royalty,  saying  to 
the  Eoman  governor,  "  To  this  end  was  I  born, 


64  HOLY  NAMES. 


and  for  this  cause  came  I  into  the  world,  that 
I  should  bear  witness  to  the  Truth"? 

Here,  now,  is  a  subject  of  immense  impor- 
tance: the  Lord's  relation  to  the  Truth.  By 
the  promise  of  Scripture;  by  the  experiences 
of  the  Christian  Church,  whose  very  existence 
rests  upon  that  Kingdom  of  the  Truth  of 
which  He  declared  Himself  to  be  King;  by 
the  testimony  of  the  hearts  of  many  genera- 
tions who  have  turned  to  Him  for  the  words 
of  eternal  life,  the  Lord  has  been  pre-eminently 
man's  spiritual  Counsellor.  Eighteen  centuries 
have  but  verified  this  claim.  In  all  that  ap- 
pertains to  spiritual  life,  there  is  no  Christian 
man  but  must  feel  that  in  some  degree  the 
Lord  is  his  Teacher.  We  say  "in  some  de- 
gree," because  all  may  not  see  alike  the  ex- 
tent, nor  the  real  basis  of  this  claim.  The 
Lord  stands  before  Christian  men  to-day  as 
the  One  of  all  others  who  can  show  them  the 
way  of  spiritual  life,  who  can  teach  them  the 


"MY  WORDS  SHALL  NOT  PASS  AWAY!"   65 

Truth.  Why?  By  what  right?  What  gave 
Him  the  right  to  say;  "Heaven  and  earth 
shall  pass  away,  but  my  words  shall  not  pass 
away  ?"  And  yet  the  history  of  human  thought 
upon  every  subject  of  knowledge  is  a  constant 
shifting  from  one  form  and  statement  and  be- 
lief to  another,  —  new  facts  brought  to  the  eye ; 
old  ones  seen  in  new  relations  and  in  new 
light.  And  yet  that  claim  put  forth  in  the 
realization  of  such  changes,  —  "heaven  and 
earth  shall  pass  away,"  —  confidently  assert- 
ing the  immutability  of  the  judgments  of  His 
mouth,  —  "  my  words  shall  not  pass  away ! " 
Again  we  ask,  upon  what  does  such  a  claim 
rest  ?  How  can  we  know  that  the  truths 
which  the  Lord  taught  are  the  very  truths 
which  He  thought  them  to  be  ?  How,  to 
point  our  question  still  more  directly  to  the 
special  subject  before  us,  can  we  know  that 
the  Lord  is,  of  all  others  who  ever  have  been 
or  ever  may  be,  the  supreme,  the  absolutely 


66  HOLY  NAMES. 


sure  teacher  in  spiritual  arid  divine  things,  so 
as  to  be  not  only  in  name  but  in  very  fact 
our  Counsellor? 

Do  not  imagine  for  a  moment  that  such 
questions  are  asked  from  any  love  of  discus- 
sion. Nor  let  us  say,  This  is  not  a  "  practical " 
subject ;  it  does  not  affect  me  in  my  present 
spiritual  condition  with  its  vexations,  cares, 
conflicts.  If  we  would  make  and  keep  our 
religion  practical  it  must  be  founded  on  real- 
ity, —  not  book-knowledge  simply ;  not  sen- 
timent merely  ;  but  fact,  truth.  The  Christ 
declares  himself  to  be  that  reality,  that  fact, 
that  Truth.  Ascertain  that;  see  it  to  be  so; 
and  our  religion  shall  not  float  in  air,  shall 
not  moulder  away  in  books,  shall  not  dream 
itself  away  in  weakly  sentiment.  It  shall 
be  founded  upon  a  Rock.  So  that  when  the 
rains  descend,  and  the  floods  come,  and  the 
winds  blow  and  beat  upon  our  spiritual  house, 
it  shall  not  fall  because  founded  upon  a  Rock. 


BEGINNING   OF  THE  HUMAN  ORGANISM.       67 

Strive  we  then  to  understand,  not  so  much 
how  the  Lord  knew  Truth,  as  how,  and  in  what 
sense,  He  became  Truth,  so  that  he  could  de- 
clare His  identity  with  it.  And  here  I  must 
ask  the  reader  to  recall  what  was  presented 
in  the  preceding  chapter,  as  to  the  assumption 
and  the  nature  of  the  Humanity  born  into  the 
world.  The  very  primitive  form,  or,  as  we 
have  spoken  of  it,  "  initiament,"  around  which 
the  substances  of  the  natural  world  were  woven 
by  the  mother  in  the  form  of  a  physical  body ; 
that  was  not  material,  was  not  natural,  did 
not  even  have  the  limitations  which  inevi- 
tably adhere  to  one  derived  of  a  human 
fatherhood.  With  every  individual,  that  first 
form  or  beginning  of  the  human  organism  is 
distinctly  spiritual,  and  is  composed  of  spirit- 
ual substances.  Around  this  are  successively 
formed  the  swathes  and  coverings  of  the 
natural  mind  and  spiritual  body,  and,  outer- 
most of  all,  the  natural  or  physical  body. 


68  HOLY  NAMES. 


But  in  the  conception  and  birth  of  the  Hu- 
manity of  our  Lord,  that  first  or  primitive 
form  was  not  derived  from  a  human  father, 
but  was  formed  or  moulded  by  the  Divine; 
formed,  as  with  men,  of  those  altogether  in- 
visible and  purest  substances  of  the  spiritual 
or  heavenly  world ;  formed,  therefore,  we  may 
be  sure,  with  a  perfection  never  present  with 
us,  and  with  a  richness  and  fulness  of  spirit- 
ual good  and  truth,  which  also  marks  a  dis- 
tinction between  that  and  all  other  human 
natures  in  their  first  state  at  birth.  This  Hu- 
manity was  thus  formed  and  born  in  order 
that  it  might  be  the  perfect  instrument  by 
which  the  very  Divine  Love  and  Wisdom 
could  become  known,  established,  and  thus 
be  immediately  present  on  every  plane  and 
degree  of  angelic  and  of  human  life.  To  put 
it  in  another  way,  it  was  the  one  instrument 
by  which  God  could  think  and  feel  in  just 
the  plane  of  life  in  which  we  are  thinking 


TRUTH  DIVINE  KNOW  ABLE.  69 

and  feeling,  or  in  which  angels  think  and 
feel ;  and,  as  a  result  of  bringing  His  Divine 
Love  and  Wisdom  into  these  human  and 
angelic  planes,  and  establishing  them  there, 
becoming  immediately  present  in  them. 

And  now,  do  we  not  begin  to  see  what  we 
are  searching  for:  how  the  Humanity  of  the 
Lord  could  become  Divine  Truth,  so  that 
He  could  say,  "  I  am  the  Truth  "  ?  Simply, 
—  for  in  this  view  of  it,  it  is  simple,  —  by 
the  Divine  Wisdom  coming  down  successively 
into  each  one  of  the  degrees  of  that  nature, 
from  highest  to  lowest,  removing  every  slight- 
est imperfection  in  them,  and  establishing 
itself  in  those  planes  or  degrees  of  life. 

We  have  had  occasion  to  notice  that  as 
a  process,  this  descent  of  the  Divine  into 
the  degrees  of  the  Human  first  took  place  in 
those  which  were  highest.  Let  me  illustrate. 
We  will  think  of  that  plane  of  angelic  life, 
the  highest,  in  which  they  dwell  of  whom 


70  HOLT  NAMES. 


it  is  said,  "  They  always  behold  the  face  of 
my  Father  who  is  in  heaven."  Such  are 
represented  by  the  Lord  as  being  in  spiritual 
association  with  little  children ;  drawn  to 
them  no  doubt  because  of  their  love  for  what 
is  pure  and  innocent.  Love,  mercy,  peace, 
innocence,  —  these  are  all  qualities  of  that 
celestial  plane  of  being.  By  creation  every 
mind  has  that  degree  of  life;  and  if  he  will 
but  carry  the  work  of  regeneration  far  enough 
so  as  really  to  become  in  spirit  a  little  child, 
he  will  come  into  the  full  use  and  enjoyment 
of  that  degree  after  death.  But  the  quality 
of  that  life,  pure  as  it  is,  is  not  Divine.  It 
is  angelic,  celestial;  but  not  Divine.  It  has 
its  limitations.  And  by  making  that  plane 
of  life  Divine  in  the  Humanity  of  the  Lord, 
we  mean  the  removal  of  those  limitations, 
so  that  on  that  plane  love  was  perfect,  abso- 
lute,—  God's  own  love. 

See !  the   parable  of  the  Prodigal  Son  will 


ABSOLUTE  LOVE.  71 

help  us.  We  might  think  of  the  relative 
difference  between  the  perfect  love  of  our 
Heavenly  Father  and  the  highest  form  of 
celestial  love,  as  being  something  like  the 
difference  between  the  father's  and  the  elder 
brother's  love  for  the  profligate  who  had  come 
home  in  shame.  Such  unconditional  forgive- 
ness ;  such  absolute  love ;  such  joy  over  the 
boy  who  has  come  back  in  tatters,  without 
a  word  of  bitterness,  or  of  wounded  love,  — 
that  was  something  which  the  elder  brother, 
for  all  his  fidelity  and  virtue,  could  not  un- 
derstand. And  something  like  this  same  dif- 
ference exists,  doubtless,  between  the  love  of 
the  highest  angels  and  the  Saviour-love  of 
God,  who  is  kind  to  the  unthankful  and  to 
the  evil,  and  sendeth  rain  on  the  just  and 
on  the  unjust.  Think  you  they  could  enter 
into  the  depths  of  that  love  which  took  this 
strange  way  of  coming  to  men ;  which  could 
love  on  through  every  form  of  shame  or 


72  HOLT  NAMES. 


abuse ;  which  felt  no  bitterness ;  desired  no 
vindication ;  encircled,  yet  forced  itself  upon 
no  one ;  lent  itself,  spent  itself  freely,  utterly, 
for  the  good  of  all  men  !  Why,  this  love  of  sav- 
ing, of  building  up,  of  giving  joy,  of  reciprocal 
union,  — this  is  the  very  Divine  Life  itself. 
God,  and  God  alone,  is  such  Life. 

And  just  as  on  this  highest  or  celestial  plane 
of  life,  so  on  every  succeeding  plane  or  de- 
gree, the  limitations  and  imperfections  pecu- 
liar to  each  were,  in  the  Lord's  Humanity, 
put  off,  and  the  perfect  love  and  wisdom  of 
the  Divine,  keyed,  we  might  say,  so  as  to  be 
in  harmony  with  it,  were  substituted  and  es- 
tablished. And  this  same  process  included 
even  the  degrees  of  life  in  which  the  natural 
mind  of  man  is.  And  here  of  course  the 
imperfections  were  much  greater,  and  the 
substitution  of  Divine  for  human  ways  of 
thinking  and  feeling  much  more  difficult  and 
slow.  And  yet  as  the  way  was  prepared,  the 


THE  LORD  THINKING  AND  FEELING  AS  GOD.    73 

Divine  of  the  Lord  came  down  into  these 
planes  no  less  than  the  higher  ones,  and 
made  them  Divine.  We  think  and  feel  as 
men;  the  Lord,  standing  in  our  place,  and 
amid  our  conditions,  learned  to  think  and  feel, 
and  does  so  now,  as  God. 

And  so,  in  this  marvellous  yet  ever  silent, 
hidden  way,  step  by  step,  in  every  degree  of 
human  life,  the  Lord,  first  thinking  and  feel- 
ing as  the  angels  and  as  we  do,  gradually  put 
away  all  the  limiting  things  of  their  and  of 
our  thought  and  affection,  and  then  came  to 
think  and  to  feel  divinely.  And  with  this 
glimpse  of  the  change  which  was  wrought  in 
His  Humanity,  what  a  new  power  of  meaning 
there  is  in  such  language  as  "  The  words  that 
I  speak  unto  you,  I  speak  not  of  myself ;  " 
"My  doctrine  is  not  mine,  but  His  that  sent 
me ; "  "I  can  of  Mine  own  self  do  nothing ! " 
The  apparent  duality  all  disappears.  The 
Lord  is  telling  us  that  the  wisdom  and  the 


74  HOLY  NAMES. 


power  are  not  such  as  can  be  spoken  of  as 
belonging  to  a  human  state.  They  are  not,  as 
men  are  fond  of  saying,  the  result  of  any  "nat- 
ural development."  Kather  they  are  the  very 
Divine  Wisdom  and  power  of  Love  accommo- 
dated to  and  brought  down  into  these  human 
planes  of  thought  and  affection.  "  If  I  bear 
witness  of  Myself,  My  witness  is  not  true." 
Here,  may  we  not  say,  is  His  way  of  telling 
us  that  by  no  amount  of  natural  development 
or  self-intelligence  could  Divine  Truth  be  set 
forth  before  men.  On  the  other  hand,  His  wit- 
ness is  true,  because  the  wisdom  from  which 
He  speaks  is  the  Divine  Wisdom  come  down 
in  Him  into  the  planes  of  our  human  life. 

To  one  to  whom  this  doctrine  of  the  Divine 
Humanity  appears  as  true,  how  perfectly  it  ex- 
plains the  Lord's  meaning  when  He  said,  "I 
am  the  Truth."  Nay,  more,  how  it  establishes 
the  ground  of  Christian  confidence!  The 
Lord's  words  are  true,  because  He  speaks  not 


THE  GROUND   OF  CHRISTIAN  CONFIDENCE.      75 

of  Himself,  —  not  from  any  intelligence  re- 
sulting, as  men  are  apt  to  think,  from  long  in- 
tellectual training  or  a  power  of  self-derived 
intelligence,  but  from  a  wisdom  which  is 
Divine. 

And  yet,  to  know  how  this  was  is  only  for 
the  sake  of  knowing  that  it  is.  Little  the 
people  knew,  as  they  thronged  about  Him  to 
hear  Him  tell  of  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven, 
how  it  was  that  He  had  such  wisdom.  And 
yet  they  came  to  Him  with  their  questions; 
marvelled  at  His  teachings ;  and  rightly  said, 
"Never  man  spake  like  this  man."  And  if, 
though  dimly  as  yet,  we  may  understand  some 
of  the  things  which  then  were  hidden,  it  surely 
must  be  to  the  end  that  more  confidently, 
more  unreservedly  even  than  the  people  of  old, 
we  may  go  to  Him  for  the  words  of  eternal  life. 

To  know  that  the  Lord,  by  that  work  of 
glorification  which  was  carried  on  in  His  Hu- 
manity, became  the  Divine  Truth ;  that  what 


76  HOLY  NAMES. 


He  has  told  us  about  our  present  lives,  our 
spiritual  needs,  about  eternal  life,  about  the 
Divine  Providence  must  be  true  because  it 
was  Truth  Speaking !  Amid  the  changing 
of  opinions ;  the  man-made  religions  which 
spring  up,  and  totter,  and  fall ;  amid  the  false 
Christs  and  false  prophets  which  beckon  for  a 
following,  how  precious,  how  restful  this  blessed 
certainty  which  still  quietly  stands  among  us ! 
We  who  may  be  asking,  "  What  shall  I  do  that  I 
may  inherit  eternal  life  ?  "  we  who  may  be  say- 
ing with  Philip,  "  Show  us  the  Father ; "  we 
who  in  some  failure,  or  sin,  or  travail  of  soul 
may  some  day  feel  the  need  of  the  Divine  con- 
solations, and  the  word  and  the  touch  of  One 
whom  we  feel  to  be  true,  forget  not  where 
Truth  is. 

"  Amid  the  weak,  One  strong, 

Amid  the  false  One  true, 
Amid  all  change,  One  changing  not,  — 
One  hope  we  ne'er  shall  rue. 


THE  LORD  AS  THE  COUNSELLOR.  77 

In  whose  sight  all  is  Now, 
In  whose  love  all  is  best: 
The  things  of  this  world  pass  away,  — 
Come,  let  us  iu  Him  rest." 


THE   LORD   AS   THE   MIGHTY  GOD. 


"  THE  very  God !  think,  Ahib  ;  dost  thou  think  ? 
So  the  All-Great,  were  the  All-Loving  too  — 
So,  through  the  thunder  conies  a  human  voice 
Saying,  ' 0  heart  I  made,  a  heart  beats  here! 
Face  My  hands  fashioned,  see  it  in  Myself. 
Thou  hast  no  power  nor  may'st  conceive  of  mine, 
But  love  I  gave  thee,  with  Myself  to  love, 
And  thou  must  love  Me  who  have  died  for  thee  ! ' ' 

BROWNING. 


* 

.ffis  name  shall  be  called  .  .  .  the  mighty  God." 
* 

r  I  ^0  be  able  to  read  these  few  words  and 
feel  that  they  are  made  true  through 
the  life  and  nature  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
is  a  triumph,  surely,  of  Christian  faith.  "  Be- 
lieve in  God ;  believe  also  in  Me,"  our  Lord 
exclaimed.  The  God-like  and  the  Christian- 
like,  —  were  they  not  linked  together  ?  "  My 
Lord  and  my  God ! "  Into  the  mind  of  the 
awestruck  Thomas,  God  and  the  living  Lord 
entered  through  one  single  thought.  "  Beware," 
wrote  the  Tarsus  Jew,  "lest  any  man  spoil 
you  through  philosophy  and  vain  deceit,  after 
the  tradition  of  men,  after  the  rudiments  of 
the  world,  and  not  after  Christ.  For  in  Him 


82  HOLY  NAMES. 


dwelleth  all  the  fulness  of  the  Godhead 
bodily."  From  their  worship  of  "  the  un- 
known God,"  the  Athenians  were  exhorted  to 
turn  the  thoughts  of  their  hearts  to  Him  by 
whom  God  was  become  God-manifest. 

And  so  it  has  been  throughout  the  history 
of  the  Christian  Church ;  so  it  is  now.  Some 
portion,  at  least,  of  His  followers,  associating 
their  thoughts  of  Him  with  their  thoughts  of 
God,  and  when  they  looked  for  Divine  help 
in  meeting  their  trials  or  resisting  their  evils, 
turning  instinctively  to  Him  who  invited  just 
this  kind  of  approach  and  appeal  when  He 
said,  "  Come  unto  Me  all  ye  that  labor  and 
are  heavy  laden."  Men's  thoughts  of  this 
Saviour-Lord  have  not  been  always  clear,  — 
are  not  now.  They  have  often  been  widely 
different.  And  yet  it  would  seem  as  if  there 
have  always  been  some  who  have  found  com- 
mon ground  in  simply  thinking  of  the  Lord  as 
the  Saviour  of  their  souls ;  as  One  who  stands 


HEART-CLINGING.  83 

related  to  them  and  to  their  inmost  thoughts 
and  feelings  and  needs,  as  would  be  impossible 
to  any  man  or  angel.  To  Him  in  trial-hours 
their  thoughts  have  turned.  His  name  has 
rested  on  their  lips  as  they  "  fell  asleep."  By 
Him  they  have  been  cheered  and  strengthened. 
From  Him  has  come  a  peace  which  passeth 
all  understanding;  as  if  once  again  He  trod 
upon  life's  sea,  and  to  the  winds  and  the  waves 
cried,  "  Peace,  be  still ! " 

Very  wonderful,  very  beautiful,  and,  we  have 
no  right  to  doubt,  very  real  has  been  and  still 
is  this  simple  looking,  this  heart-clinging  to 
the  Friend  of  publicans  and  sinners.  What 
pains  have  been  and  are  endured  in  this 
name !  What  struggles  against  the  sins  of 
one's  heart  have  been  and  still  are  carried 
on  because  of  Him !  The  history  of  Christ 
the  Lord,  as  He  has  lived  it  again  and  again 
in  men's  hearts,  who  shall  write  us  that  ? 
The  thoughts  He  has  illumined ;  the  longings 


84  HOLY  NAMES. 


He  has  inspired ;  the  maimed,  the  blind,  the 
palsied  things  of  our  nature  on  which  He  has 
laid  those  kindly  hands ;  the  dead  thoughts 
and  feelings  that  have  come  to  life  through 
Him;  the  possession  and  tormen tings  of  devils 
that  have  been  brought  to  an  end !  Again  we 
say,  who  shall  write  for  us  this  spiritual  his- 
tory of  the  Saviour  Lord,  with  its  lowly  begin- 
nings ;  its  gentle  counsellings ;  man's  doubting 
and  adoring;  the  following  aud  forsaking;  the 
selfish  and  evil  things  in  us  trying  to  silence, 
to  arrest,  to  kill  and  bury  Him  out  of  sight; 
and  then,  for  some,  after  severe  temptation, 
the  coming  forth  in  still  greater  power  and 
deathless  victory! 

Very  real  this  spiritual  history  is,  too  real 
to  be  overlooked  or  denied  in  any  attempt  to 
understand  the  Eedeemer's  life.  Indeed,  it 
seems  certain  that  it  is  this  spiritual  help 
and  reality  of  the  Son  of  Man  which  has 
kept  and  still  keeps  Him  in  an  altogether 


THE  ENDURING  POWER   OF  CHRIST.          85 

different  position  and  relation  with  us  from 
any  other  being  of  whom  men  have  knowl- 
edge. How  has  faith  in  the  Redeemer  so 
persistently  endured,  when  urged  under  the 
form  of  dogmas  which  appear  to  be  so  foreign 
to  the  real  truth  of  the  Gospel  ?  Think  of 
the  intolerance,  the  persecutions,  the  abuse  of 
spiritual  power  through  the  lust  of  dominion, 
which  have  brought  such  misery  into  the 
Church  itself,  and  engendered  such  wwChrist- 
like  thoughts  and  feelings.  See  the  Church 
of  to-day  divided,  bearing  different  names; 
more  tolerant,  perhaps,  and  yet  each  sect  jeal- 
ous of  its  respective  doctrines,  practices,  and 
titles ;  all  claiming,  it  may  be,  a  desire  for 
unity,  but  certainly  not  formed  into  that 
united  and  altogether  loving  communion  into 
which  surely  the  Church  of  Christ  shall  some 
day  come. 

And  then,  how  strange  it  seems  that  the 
power  of   the   Redeemer's    life    should    have 


HOLY  NAMES. 


endured  through  all  these  things ;  strange, 
until  its  spiritual  reality  is  remembered  ; 
until  it  is  recognized  as  exerting  an  influence 
upon  the  spiritual  life  of  man,  having  still 
the  power  to  call  out  trust,  to  comfort,  to 
inspire,  to  remove  evil.  That  this  power  is 
what  it  might  be  and  yet  will  be,  if  with 
truer  thoughts  and  humbler  hearts  we  would 
turn  to  its  living  source,  is  not  for  a  moment 
pretended.  But  even  then,  this  remains :  if 
the  spiritual  experiences  of  pure  and  devoted 
followers,  some  of  them  known  to  us,  but  many 
more,  whose  names,  uncelebrated,  are  yet  writ- 
ten in  heaven, —  if  these  inward  experiences  are 
true,  this  fact  is  certain  :  there  has  been  from 
the  beginning  and  still  is  an  influence,  a  power 
of  the  Spirit,  which  radiates  from  the  risen 
and  glorified  Lord,  and  which,  through  the 
experiences  of  those  whose  hearts  have  been 
opened  to  it,  attest  not  simply  its  reality,  but 
its  uplifting,  life-giving  power.  While  the 


SPIRITUAL  REALITY  OF  CHRIST'S  LITE.         87 

scholar  is  "  weighing  the  evidences "  as  to  the 
authenticity  of  this  or  that  passage;  while 
the  theologian  is  at  work  on  the  "formulas 
of  faith,"  yonder  man,  who  is  trying  to  meet 
some  trial,  or  to  be  faithful  in  some  duty, 
or  seeking  protection  from  some  evil,  turning 
humbly,  trustfully,  appealingly  to  his  Saviour, 
and  into  whose  heart  there  comes  a  new 
feeling  of  courage,  of  pure  desire,  of  pro- 
tection, —  that  man,  is  he  not  gaining  a 
living  testimony  of  the  loving  presence  and 
power  of  the  Kedeemer's  life?  Something  of 
this  there  has  always  been,  from  the  moment 
that  the  Saviour,  in  being  withdrawn  from  out- 
ward gaze,  said,  "  Lo,  I  am  with  you  always." 
And  this  it  is,  which,  supported  by  the  simple 
story  of  the  Gospels,  has,  in  spite  of  false 
teachings,  abuses,  denials,  kept  the  Godliness 
of  Christ  as  a  fact  among  those  who  take 
His  name.  It  is  a  part  of  the  history  of 
the  Christ-life  which  cannot  be  forgotten  nor 


HOLY  NAMES. 


lightly  put  aside.  Though  we  ourselves  should 
have  had  but  little  of  this  inward  experience, 
that  does  not  render  us  free  to  ignore  or 
to  make  light  of  the  testimony  of  those  who 
have. 

And  more :  It  is,  we  are  convinced,  from  this 
side,  rather  than  from  doctrinal  argument,  that 
the  sole  Divinity  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  can 
best  be  approached.  For  of  this  we  may  well 
be  sure :  the  presentation  of  a  doctrine,  how- 
ever true,  is  but  one  step  in  the  formation  of 
faith.  For  faith  is  an  inward  thing.  Essen- 
tially it  is  a  state  of  interior  confidence, 
resulting  from  a  preception  that  a  tiling  is 
true.  Not  always  does  such  a  faith  express 
itself  in  words,  nor  even  in  a  well-ordered 
series  of  thoughts.  To  have  faith  as  a  grain 
of  mustard-seed  is  not,  necessarily,  to  have 
a  belief  concerning  God  which  is  theologically 
exact ;  but  it  is,  in  simple,  heartfelt  confidence, 
to  do  the  things  which  the  Lord  declares  to 


PRACTICAL  BELIEVING.  89 

be  right,  humbly,  faithfully,  religiously.  If  a 
man  has  that  kind  of  faith  and  really  prac- 
tises it,  what  mountains  of  selfish  love  may 
he  not  have  removed !  True  doctrine  helps 
to  make  plain  to  a  man's  thought  the  confi- 
dence he  feels.  To  that  extent  it  enlarges  and 
strengthens  it.  It  gives  it  form.  It  enables 
him  to  examine  and  understand  it.  The  man 
feels  fortified.  False  doctrine,  on  the  other 
hand,  may  confuse,  and  may  even  make  faith 
blind.  But  in  either  case  it  is  essential  to 
remember  that  faith  is  dependent  upon  an 
internal  disposition  and  inclination,  and  not 
simply  upon  theological  or  doctrinal  state- 
ments. No  wonder,  then,  that  we  should 
find  the  Lord  saying :  "  No  man  can  come 
unto  Me  except  the  Father  which  hath  sent 
Me  draw  him;"  words  which,  in  their  sim- 
plest meaning,  may  well  teach  us  that  man 
cannot  be  driven  to  accept  the  Lord  as  a 
Saviour  by  any  outside  power  of  argument, 


90  HOLY  NAMES. 


nor  by  doctrine  alone,  nor  by  human  exhor- 
tation alone. 

And  so,  while  the  subject  of  the  Lord  as 
the  mighty  God  might,  of  all  others  which 
we  shall  consider,  seem  to  suggest  a  theologi- 
cal treatment,  it  has  appeared  to  us  that  the 
most  hopeful  side  from  which  to  approach  it 
is  this  side  of  spiritual  experience  upon  which 
we  have  chiefly  dwelt.  The  favorite  texts  on 
which  we  rely  for  proof  of  the  Lord's  Divin- 
ity might  easily  be  brought  together.  Nor 
would  it  be  difficult  to  show  how,  if  we  deny 
this  Divinity,  we  actually  compromise  the  Son 
of  Man,  —  make  Him  declare  things  concerning 
His  divine  descent  and  union  with  the  Father  ; 
make  Him  claim  powers  and  assume  relations 
with  mankind,  which  were  either  a  dream,  an 
exaggeration,  or  a  deception.  But  the  texts 
and  the  arguments  are  familiar.  We  should 
not  gain  much  by  another  use  of  them.  Be- 
sides, in  the  two  preceding  chapters,  we  have 


PRACTICAL  HELP.  91 

tried  to  state  with  some  degree  of  particular- 
ity some  things  which  might  be  of  help,  not 
in  proving  this  Divinity,  but  in  enabling  us  to 
see,  if  possible,  how  the  Lord  could  and  did 
assume  a  human  nature;  how  it  was  a  per- 
fect instrument  by  which  the  Divine  Love 
and  Wisdom  would  come  down  and  become 
established  in  all  the  successive  planes  of 
angelic  and  human  life;  and  how,  because  of 
such  a  corning,  God  is  immediately  and  sav- 
ingly near  to  all  men.  This  much,  as  an  aid 
to  clearer  thinking,  have  we  tried  to  do.  But 
far  more  desirous  should  we  be  to  learn  some 
of  the  spiritual  results  of  this  presence ;  to 
know  something  about  this  influence,  this 
power,  that  we  associate  with  the  Lord.  And 
if  we  can  see  that  it  has  a  power  over  evil, — 
that  now,  as  in  the  days  of  old,  it  is  the  one 
force  that  can  set  us  really  free  from  the 
devils  of  our  nature  ;  can  cure,  can  .bless,  can 
forgive,  —  shall  we  not  be  learning  in  the  best 


92  HOLY  NAMES. 


of  ways  that  the  Lord  was  indeed  rightly  called 
in  prophecy  "  the  Mighty  God  "  ? 

And  here  is  a  point  worth  remembering :  the 
people's  thoughts  of  the  Lord  as  divine,  and 
the  Lord's  power  over  evil,  are  invariably  as- 
sociated together.  Nay,  there  is  something 
more  remarkable  yet :  evil  spirits  themselves 
recognized  His  power  as  divine  !  "What  have 
we  to  do  with  Thee,  Jesus  of  Nazareth  ?  .  .  . 
I  know  Thee  who  Thou  art ;  the  Holy  One  of 
God"  What  was  it  provoked  the  Pharisees, 
so  that  they  accused  Him  of  blasphemy  ?  He 
was  sitting  in  a  house  teaching,  when  through 
an  opening  in  the  roof  a  helpless  cripple  on 
his  pallet  was  let  down  at  His  feet.  And 
looking  at  that  sufferer  as  he  lay  there  before 
Him,  He  quietly  said :  "  Man,  thy  sins  be 
forgiven  Thee."  And  instantly  the  thought 
arose  in  the  minds  of  many  of  the  bystanders, 
"Who  is  this  which  speaketh  blasphemies? 
Who  can  forgive  sins  but  God  alone  ?  "  He 


DIVINE  MINISTRATIONS.  93 

was  sitting  in  a  Pharisee's  house.  The  cus- 
tomary bathing  of  the  feet,  the  kiss  of  salu- 
tation, the  anointing,  —  all  had  been  omitted; 
until  the  sinful  woman  knelt  down  at  those 
feet  and  wept,  and  kissed  and  poured  oil  upon 
them.  And  He  who  came  to  call  sinners  to 
repentance  said  to  the  woman :  "  Thy  sins  are 
forgiven."  But  the  Pharisees,  and  those  who 
sat  at  meat,  said,  "  Who  is  this  that  forgiveth 
sins  also  ? " 

Oh,  how  often  was  that  word  "  forgive  "  on 
those  lips  !  How  often  was  He  giving  release 
from  some  bondage  of  evil !  How  closed  and 
hardened  and  embittered  the  life  of  the  little 
publican  of  Jericho  had  been,  until  one  day 
the  Friend  of  publicans  stood  at  his  door; 
and  to  the  amazement,  we  doubt  not,  of  the 
despised  man  whose  soul  opened  .to  this  new 
influence  of  love  that  had  sought  it,  declared, 
what  God  alone  has  the  right  to  declare : 
"This  day  is  salvation  come  to  this  house." 


94  HOLY  NAMES. 


Let  us  seriously  consider  this  feature  of 
the  Saviour's  ministry.  When  He  stated  His 
Divine  character  and  descent,  many  were 
mystified,  many  were  offended :  and  there 
were  always  some  ready  with  an  argument 
with  which  to  try  and  humble  Him.  When 
they  saw  some  of  His  miracles,  they  were 
amazed;  and  some  were  ready  to  declare  that 
one  of  the  prophets  was  come  back  to  them. 
But  when  they  heard  Him  forgive  men  of 
their  sins,  when  evil  spirits  were  made  sub- 
ject to  His  word,  then  the  thought  of  God 
came  instantly  into  their  minds.  "It  was 
never  so  seen  in  Israel,"  the  multitude  ex- 
claimed in  awe,  as  the  dumb  man  was  de- 
livered of  his  evil  tormentor.  In  vain  some 
of  the  rulers  pretended  that  He  was  working 
from  evil  power.  Would  a  kingdom  so  divided 
against  itself  stand  ?  But  this  let  them  re- 
member :  "  If  I  cast  out  devils  by  the  spirit 
of  God,  then  the  kingdom  of  God  is  come 


THE  POWER  THAT  CONQUERS  EVIL.          95 

unto  you."  "By  the  Spirit  of  God!"  To 
Him,  then,  to  the  people,  to  the  spirits  of 
darkness,  this  power  over  evil  was  the  surest 
sign  of  the  presence  of  a  Divine  Power.  And 
that  fact  we  may  safely  enlarge  so  as  to  in- 
clude our  own  spiritual  experiences.  When, 
through  the  Lord's  power,  any  evil  is  removed, 
repented  of,  put  away,  forgiven,  then  may  we 
justly  feel  that  for  us,  at  least,  the  prophecy 
has  been  fulfilled :  "  His  Name  shall  be  called 
the  Mighty  God." 

The  power  that  conquers  evil  is  the  Lord's 
power.  First,  by  showing  us  what  evil  is. 
This  we  must  have  noticed:  while  the  Lord 
was  ever  ready  to  forgive,  while  He  tried  to 
lead  those  who  were  in  sin  to  feel  that  with 
Divine  help  they  could  live  in  newness  of 
life,  He  never  condoned  evil.  He  never  said 
of  it,  as  some  try  to  say  of  it,  "It  is  only 
an  appearance."  He  never  called  it,  as 
some  are  trying  to  call  it,  "undeveloped 


96  HOLY  NAMES. 


good."  Is  not  this  more  nearly  His  estimate  ? 
Evil  is  life  perverted ;  it  is  using  for  self-grati- 
fication the  powers  and  blessings  which  were 
intended  for  unselfish  joy  and  usefulness. 
That  kind  of  life  is  the  very  opposite  of  the 
Divine  Life.  That  kind  of  life,  persisted  in, 
results  in  ever-increasing  selfishness,  in  inor- 
dinate indulgence,  in  a  complete  turning  away 
from  God.  Such  associate  themselves  with 
those  who  are  in  similar  delights  of  evil,  —  not 
only  with  men,  but  still  more  intimately  with 
evil  spirits,  whose  delight  it  is  to  encourage 
these  selfish  loves,  and  fill  them  with  burnings 
and  jealousies.  "He  that  committeth  sin  is 
the  servant  of  sin."  Evil  is  enslaving,  debas- 
ing, weakening.  Life  thus  perverted  brings 
unhappiness,  suffering.  Very  significant  is  the 
fact  that  the  Lord  so  often  associated  sin  with 
disease.  Why  say  to  the  sick  of  the  palsy, 
"  Thy  sins  be  forgiven,"  but  that  in  the  Lord's 
sight  the  helpless  body  of  the  man  before  Him 


MORTAL  INJURIES.  97 

was  a  perfect  image  of  a  helpless  condition  of 
the  spirit  into  which  sin  may  finally  bring 
man.  And  why,  when  they  were  complaining 
about  His  eating  with  publicans  and  sinners, 
should  He  say,  "  They  that  are  whole  need  not 
a  physician,  but  they  that  are  sick"?  Was 
it  not,  in  part,  at  least,  that  we  might  know 
that  evil  does  injure  the  soul;  and  that,  if 
unremoved,  the  mind  becomes  vitiated  and 
unfitted  for  the  kind  of  life  for  which  it  was 
intended  ? 

And  then  the  Lord's  treatment  of  those  in 
sin.  He  was  ever  ready  to  forgive :  but  did 
He  ever  spare  them,  if  we  must  use  that 
word,  the  knowledge  of  their  sinfulness  ?  Did 
He  ever  say  to  any  such,  "  You  are  the  victim 
of  circumstances  ;  this  evil  of  yours  is  not  as 
bad  as  it  seems "  ?  Was  not  the  first  step 
always  a  confession  of  sin,  seeing  it  in  its 
true  light,  and  then  abjuring  it  ?  And  then 
was  not  the  next  step  a  looking  to  the  Lord, 


98  HOLY  NAMES. 


and  an  effort  to  walk  in  the  new  way  which 
He  had  opened  before  them  ?  Were  they  not 
led  to  feel  that  the  power  by  which  they  were 
delivered  was  a  holy  power  ?  "  If  I  by  the 
Spirit  of  God  cast  out  devils  ! "  Was  not  that 
the  experience  ?  Nothing  out  of  the  sinner's 
own  life.  No  "native  good,"  as  some  fondly 
say,  suddenly  flattered  into  life  and  growing 
so  prodigiously,  as  by  its  sheer  bulk  to  crowd 
out  evil. 

The  woman  weeping  at  His  feet;  the  man 
of  Gadara  sitting  quietly  by  his  Eedeemer ; 
Zaccheus ;  Peter,  as  he  sinks  upon  his  knees 
with  the  cry,  "  Depart  from  me,  for  I  am  a 
sinful  man,  O  Lord,"  —  all  these  seem  to 
bear  one  common  testimony.  They  have  been 
in  evil;  they  are  bitterly  aware  of  their  sin- 
fulness  ;  but  through  the  Lord  a  change  has 
come,  a  deliverance  has  been  wrought,  a  new 
life  begun. 

And  to-day,  is  there  any  true  deliverance 


RESTRAINED  BUT  NOT  CONQUERED.          99 

to  be  gained  from  evil  except  by  seeing  its 
sinfulness :  turning  from  it,  and  with  the 
Lord's  help  trying  to  live  in  newness  of  life  ? 
Know  we  of  any  power  greater  than  that  by 
which  the  Lord  our  Redeemer  triumphed, 
and  helped  others  to  triumph  ?  There  is 
much  hiding  of  evil;  covering  it  up  with 
little  social  graces  and  proprieties ;  holding 
it  in  bounds  through  motives  of  prudence  and 
expediency.  But  who  does  not  know  that 
that  is  not  deliverance  from  evil  ?  Who 
does  not  know  that  that  brings  no  true  rest  ? 
The  Lord's  way  is  the  one  sure  way.  To 
any  and  all  who  are  conscious  of  some  evil, 
might  we  not  feel  that  the  Lord  says  this : 
"  Do  not  try  to  excuse  the  evil.  Do  not  try 
to  make  it  appear  less  than  it  is.  Do  not 
try  to  lay  the  blame  of  it  at  somebody's  door. 
Confess  the  wickedness  of  it.  Confess  that 
it  is  a  transgression  of  the  divine  laws  of  life 
which  I  have  taught  you.  But  do  not  fear : 


100  HOLY  NAMES. 


if  you  desire  to  be  free,  turn  to  Me  ;  I  will 
strengthen  your  heart.  And  when  the  evil 
returns,  firmly  say,  '  I  do  not  will  this,  be- 
cause it  is  a  sin  against  the  Lord.'  So,  little 
by  little,  you  shall  receive  a  new  power  to  do 
good ;  will  feel  an  ever-increasing  joy  in  it ; 
and  will  be  led  into  the  way  of  peace." 

See  how  beautifully  the  Lord's  life  is  in- 
tended to  develop  among  us :  First,  He  calls 
out  our  wonder,  our  admiration,  our  reverence  : 
"  His  Name  shall  be  called  Wonderful."  Then 
when  we  begin  to  wish  to  know  more  about 
life  and  its  duties,  He  presents  Himself  as 
our  Guide,  our  Teacher,  the  Divine  Truth 
Itself :  "  His  name  shall  be  called  .  .  . 
Counsellor."  But  when  the  real  battles  of 
life  begin,  and  we  feel  the  encroachments  of 
sin,  and  begin  to  fear,  after  many  bitter  ex- 
periences, that  the  contest  is  too  great  for  us, 
then  what  a  blessing  to  feel  the  hand  that 


SPIRITUAL   TEMPTATIONS.  101 

is  not  shortened  that  it  cannot  save ;  to  grow 
into  the  use  of  a  power  so  sure  besides  our 
own;  to  gain  little  by  little  through  that 
power  true  freedom  of  soul ! 

And  something  more :  If  life  is  advancing 
in  a  truly  spiritual  way,  its  experiences  will 
deepen;  the  temptations  become  more  subtle 
and  less  palpable ;  ay,  take  the  form,  some- 
times, simply  of  heart- weariness,  of  pain  of 
mind,  with  no  assignable  outward  cause.  Such 
states  are  beyond  the  touch  of  human  hands; 
are  not  seen  by  our  own  eyes.  And  for  that 
very  reason  one  feels  helpless  in  such  suffer- 
ing. But  some  day  we  may  be  able  to  look 
back,  and  recognize  these  two  facts:  (1)  These 
states  of  dejection  and  of  pain,  for  which  we 
could  find  no  apparent  cause,  were  not  be- 
cause of  any  sickness  of  the  body,  but  re- 
sulted from  assaults  made  upon  our  spiritual 
life.  (2)  And  another  truth  we  shall  learn: 
when  in  such  states,  and  the  soul  was  faint, 


102  HOLY  NAMES. 


the  power  of  the  Lord's  life  came  and  gently 
brought  us  out  of  them;  protected  us  with 
His  life ;  fought  for  us. 

And  by  such  rescuings,  and  by  the  power 
offered  at  every  turn  with  which  to  resist 
evil  and  keep  true,  we  shall  know  then,  better 
even  than  we  can  now  know  by  any  force  of 
argument,  that  the  Lord  is  spiritually  present 
with  men ;  and  that  that  presence,  because 
so  constant,  so  sure  in  its  might,  so  unfail- 
ing in  its  mercy  and  forgiveness,  is  divine,  — 
the  very  presence  of  God. 


THE   LORD   AS   THE   EVERLASTING 
FATHER. 


O  LOVE  !   0  Life  !    our  faith  and  sight 

Thy  presence  maketh  one ; 
As  through  .transfigured  clouds  of  white 

We  trace  the  noonday  sun,  — 

So,  to  our  mortal  eyes  subdued, 
Flesh-veiled,  but  not  concealed, 

We  know  in  Thee  the  Fatherhood 
And  heart  of  God  revealed. 

WHITTIER. 


j£  tf>e  <£berla£titt0  father, 

* 

"  And  His  name  shall  be  called  .  .  .  the  everlasting 
Father." 

* 

T  T  OW  often  our  Saviour,  when  He  re- 
•*•  vealed  Himself  in  the  flesh,  spoke  of 
the  Father  !  No  other  name  is  so  often  on 
His  lips.  More  than  one  hundred  and  fifty 
times  the  evangelists  caught  that  divine 
name  in  so  much  of  the  conversations  and 
prayers  as  they  have  set  down  in  our  four 
Gospels.  And  very  wonderful  it  is  to  trace, 
not  so  much  how  often,  as  in  what  way,  un- 
der what  circumstances,  this  word  "Father" 
was  used.  What  is  the  first  exclamation 
that  escapes  His  lips,  of  which  we  have  any 
record  ?  "  Wist  ye  not  that  I  must  be  about 


106  HOLY  NAMES. 


my  Father's  business  ? "  Divine  work  wait- 
ing for  those  eager  hands !  Divine  rescuiugs 
and  consolations  already  looked  forward  to 
with  eagerness  by  One  who  should  some  day 
be  saying :  "  I  am  come  to  seek  and  to  save 
that  which  was  lost."  Such  work  was  divine. 
To  Himself,  to  men  on  the  earth,  it  should 
appear  as  divine.  They  praised  Him  for  His 
gracious  words ;  but  He  told  them  that  He 
spoke  not  from  Himself  but  from  the  Father. 
They  praised  Him  for  His  works.  "  He  hath 
done  all  things  well,"  they  cried ;  "  He  maketh 
both  the  deaf  to  hear  and  the  dumb  to  speak." 
But  He  told  them :  "  The  Father  that  dwelleth 
in  Me,  He  doeth  the  works."  All  the  kindly 
acts,  all  the  sacrifices  that  were  being  made 
for  them,  —  the  seeking  and  finding  and 
bringing  home  once  more,  —  He  would  not 
let  them  think  of  all  this  as  though  it  were 
simply  the  result  of  human  benevolence. 
Let  them  know  that  all  this  -desire  and  effort 


FATHERLY  LOVE.  107 

to  redeem  and  save  them  was  the  Divine  de- 
sire. "  I  came  not  to  do  mine  own  will ;  but 
the  will  of  Him  that  sent  me."  For  here 
was  a  fact  for  them  to  learn  as  they  had 
never  learned  it  before  :  God  is  a  God  of 
love.  He  sustains  the  same  relation  to  them 
that  a  good  father  would  to  his  children,  only 
far  more  perfectly  and  unfailingly.  It  was 
written  in  their  own  sacred  books,  "Like  as 
a  Father  pitieth  His  children,  so  the  Lord 
pitieth  them  that  fear  Him."  And  yet  their 
chief  thought  of  Him  had  been  that  He  was 
a  great  Ruler;  severe  in  judgment;  easily  of- 
fended ;  relentless  in  His  punishments.  But 
He  who  declared  that  He  had  come  forth 
from  God,  and  whose  purpose  it  was  to  make 
Him  manifest,  did  not  speak  of  Him  as  a 
dread  monarch,  but  kept  referring  to  the 
Father.  They  need  not  be  afraid  of  Him : 
"I  say  not  unto  you  that  I  will  pray  the 
Father  for  you  ;  for  the  Father  himself  loveth 


108  HOLY  NAMES. 


you."  Let  them  enter  into  their  closets,  and 
when  they  have  shut  the  door,  pray  to  this 
Father  in  secret.  Yea,  let  the  first  words  of 
their  petitions  be  :  "  Our  Father."  "  And  this 
is  the  Father's  will,"  He  said,  "  that  of  all 
which  He  hath  given  Me,  I  should  lose  noth- 
ing, but  should  raise  it  up  again  at  the  last 
day."  Yes,  and  this  Divine  desire  that  noth- 
ing might  be  lost,  extends  to  the  least  of 
God's  children ;  for  He  said,  "  It  is  not  the 
will  of  your  Father  who  is  in  heaven  that 
one  of  these  little  ones  should  perish."  With 
steadfast  love  "  their  angels "  —  that  is,  the 
children's  angels  —  "  behold  the  face  of  their 
Father  in  heaven."  And  all  men,  if  they 
learn  the  law  of  love,  shall  be  the  children 
of  this  Father  who  is  in  heaven;  for  He,  in 
His  love,  maketh  His  sun  to  rise  on  the  evil 
and  on  the  good,  and  sendeth  rain  on  the 
just  and  on  the  unjust.  Let  them,  therefore, 
strive  to  be  perfect,  even  as  their  Father  in 


THE  FATHERHOOD   OF  GOD.  109 

heaven  is  perfect.  Let  them  feel  sure  of  His 
loving  care.  Not  one  sparrow  shall  fall  with- 
out the  Father.  The  Father  knows  what 
things  we  have  need  of  before  we  ask  Him. 
If  we  forgive,  ttte  heavenly  Father  will  surely 
forgive  us.  "  Be  ye  merciful  as  your  Father 
also  is  merciful."  "  Fear  not,  little  flock ;  for 
it  is  your  Father's  good  pleasure  to  give  you 
the  Kingdom." 

How  wonderful  all  these  sayings  are !  So 
simple,  and  yet  so  all-revealing !  If  we  could 
only  forget  the  theological  controversies  which, 
we  might  almost  say,  have  been  hammered 
out  of  such  passages ;  if  we  could  but  keep  our 
minds  free  of  the  thought  of  separate  persons, 
and  come  back  to  this  great  truth,  which  the 
Lord  kept  impressing  upon  men's  hearts,  that 
however  else  they  might  think  of  the  Divine 
Being,  essentially  God  is  a  Father;  and  that 
this  Divine  Father,  in  all  His  thoughts  "  which 
are  to  us  ward,"  in  every  heart-throb,  is  Love ! 


110  HOLY  NAMES. 


And  then  if  we  could  feel  that  the  Lord,  in 
word,  in  deed,  was  manifesting  that  Father; 
was  acting  from  and  embodying  that  love 
which  is  the  essence  of  the  Divine  Father- 
hood !  From  that  love,  in  ever-increasing 
fulness,  He  acted.  "  In  His  love  and  in  His 
pity  He  redeemed  them."  From  that  fatherly 
desire  to  guide  and  save,  He  spoke  and  taught. 
Every  errand  of  mercy  on  which  He  went 
forth,  whether  to  heal,  to  befriend,  to  for- 
give, was  prompted  by  this  same  undying 
love.  Well  might  He  say,  "I  came  forth 
from  the  Father."  He  never  went  forth  from 
any  mere  purpose  of  His  own.  And  when 
His  work  was  done,  no  matter  whether  He 
had  been  resisted,  or  mocked,  or  abused,  He 
always  came  back  to  this  same  state  of  loving 
solicitude;  never  took  refuge  in  thoughts  or 
feelings  of  self- vindication  or  retribution.  "I 
go  to  my  Father."  And  it  was  this  going  and 
returning  in  perfect  love,  that  kept  bringing 


SEEING   THE  FATHER.  1 1 1 

this  fatherly  or  Divine  Love  in  ever-increasing 
fulness  into  every  act,  thought,  wish ;  so  that 
He  could  eventually  say,  "  I  and  the  Father 
are  one."  No  wonder  He  said  in  sad  reproach 
to  Philip,  who  asked,  "  Show  us  the  Father," 
"  Have  I  been  so  long  time  with  you,  and  yet 
hast  thou  not  known  Me,  Philip!"  Through 
all  the  days  of  their  discipleship,  had  He 
not  been  speaking,  purposing,  coming  and 
going  in  this  spirit  of  fatherly  love  ?  Did 
He  not  embody  that  love  ?  Did  it  not  pos- 
sess and  inspire  every  least  thing  of  His  life  ? 
Essentially  then,  had  they  not  seen  the 
Father  ? 

Oh,  it  seems  unspeakably  beautiful,  this  con- 
stant reference  of  our  Saviour  to  the  Divine 
Fatherhood  in  His  work,  the  moment  we  free 
our  minds  from  the  perplexing  thoughts  of 
separate  beings  or  personalities,  and  allow  to 
the  Lord's  words  a  more  spiritual  quality  and 
intention.  We  make  awkward  literalisms  of 


112  HOLY  NAMES. 

His  words;  when  yet  His  very  words  were 
"spirit  and  life."  His  words  are  not  used  at 
random.  Neither  are  they  used  in  that  stiff, 
literal  way  in  which  we  use  them.  They 
are  sensitive  with  meaning.  This  is  equally 
true  of  His  use  of  names.  Did  He  not  see  a 
good  reason  for  naming  Simon,  "  Cephas "  or 
Peter,  a  stone  ?  When  He  would  speak  of 
the  sufferings  of  His  Humanity,  His  rejec- 
tion, persecution,  what  term  does  He  use  ? 
It  is  "  the  Son  of  Man  "  that  hath  not  where  to 
lay  His  head !  It  is  "  the  Son  of  Man  "  that 
goeth  forth  as  was  determined.  It  is  the 
"Son  of  Man"  that  is  to  be  betrayed.  It  is 
the  "Son  of  Man"  that  must  be  lifted  up, 
even  as  Moses  lifted  up  the  serpent  in  the 
wilderness.  Why,  the  multitudes  were  quicker 
than  we  to  catch  these  spiritual  differences. 
If  they  came  to  question  Him  about  some 
truth,  they  addressed  Him  as  "  Eabbi."  When 
their  thoughts  were  about  His  Messianic  office, 


EXPRESSIVE  TITLES.  113 

they  speak  either  of  the  "Messiah"  or  "the 
Christ."  When,  in  His  saving  work,  He  is 
removing  evil,  the  very  devils  call  Him  "Jesus" 
(so  named  because  He  should  save  His  people 
from  their  sius).  When,  by  means  of  the 
Truth,  He  is  carrying  out  the  purposes  of  the 
Divine  Love,  He  speaks  ever  of  "  the  Son." 
But  when  He  would  speak  of  the  Love  itself, 
how  it  is  the  ever-active  and  controlling  pur- 
pose or  desire  from  which  He  is  living,  then 
that  word  "Father"  is  on  His  lips. 

Think  of  but  one  Divine  Being,  whose  life 
is  Love  and  Wisdom  going  forth  into  infinite 
forms  and  varieties  of  use.  Think  of  the  Hu- 
manity of  the  Lord,  as  the  special  instrument 
by  means  of  which  the  Divine  Love  and  Wis- 
dom might  come  down  and  become  established 
in  all  the  successive  planes  or  degrees  of  an- 
gelic and  human  life,  make  them  Divine  in 
Himself,  and  through  them  flow  forth  with  a 
new  power  of  saving  help.  And  then,  in  this 
8 


114  HOLY  NJMES. 


marvellous  process,  in  this  amazing  work  of  re- 
demption and  salvation,  think  of  the  different 
states  through  which  the  Lord  passed,  the 
different  relationships  which  He  sustained  to 
men,  as  expressed  by  the  various  names  which 
are  employed.  There  is  then  no  confusion  of 
persons ;  but  the  most  wonderful,  the  most 
thrilling  spiritual  delineation  of  what  we  may 
dare  to  call  the  story  of  the  Divine  Life  in 
its  descent  to  man  through  the  Humanity  of 
Jesus  Christ;  of  the  combats  of  truth,  of  the 
appealings  of  love,  of  the  guidings  of  wisdom, 
of  joy  in  salvation,  of  pain  and  patience  in 
being  despised  and  rejected.  Why,  in  all  that 
the  world  has  to  tell  us,  whether  of  the  mar- 
vellous in  science,  the  heroic  in  history,  the 
beautiful  in  art,  there  is  nothing  that  begins 
to  compare  with  the  marvellous,  the  heroic, 
the  beautiful,  which  as  yet  only  faintly  dawn 
upon  us  out  of  this  story  of  the  Divine  Life, 
in  its  accommodations,  its  labors,  its  rejections, 


A  THRILLING   HISTORY.  115 

its  victories  among  men.  And  what  could  be 
of  more  thrilling  interest  in  our  religious 
studies,  than  to  be  able  to  read  that  story 
with  some  perception  and  appreciation  of  the 
different  delicate  meanings  and  phases  of  it; 
to  see,  for  instance,  that  when  the  term  "  Son 
of  Man"  is  used,  the  experiences  of  suffering 
in  the  Lord's  Humanity  are  being  treated  of; 
that  when  "  Jesus  "  is  spoken  of,  it  is  the  Lord 
in  His  efforts  to  save,  that  is  the  theme,  — 
efforts  which  men  may  so  resist,  as  in  mockery, 
yet  sad  truthfulness,  to  place  this  word  "Jesus" 
over  a  crucified  Saviour,  —  that  when  "  the 
Christ"  is  spoken  of,  it  is  the  Divine  Truth 
trying  to  gain  spiritual  supremacy  for  us ;  that 
when  "  the  Father  "  is  mentioned,  it  is  the  Di- 
vine Love,  unwavering,  unchangeable,  merciful, 
forgiving,  that  shows  itself  for  our  loving ! 

I  would  liken  this  use  of  the  Divine  names 
to  the  use  of  what  are  known  as  Leitmotifs, 
which  have  been  made  famous  through  Wag- 


116  HOLY  NAMES. 


ner's  development  of  them  in  his  music- 
dramas.  Not  only  is  there  for  every  one  of 
the  dramatis  personae,  a  motif  or  musical 
theme,  but  in  many  cases  the  changing  moods, 
passions,  episodes  of  the  several  characters, 
whether  of  love,  of  combat,  of  fear,  of  victory, 
are  also  expressed  by  their  special  musical 
phrases.  Very  brief  and  simple  these  motifs 
often  are ;  and  yet  no  matter  when  they  re- 
cur, through  what  dissonance  of  sound  they 
are  heard,  they  carry  with  them  and  keep 
bringing  back  to  the  hearer,  the  story,  the 
eventful  mood  or  episode,  with  which  they 
are  associated.  And  so,  to  one  knowing  these 
themes,  this  music,  as  in  the  "Tetralogy,"  is 
vocal  with  ideas.  It  may  recount  incidents 
without  words ;  as  in  tvhe  dirge  following 
Siegfried's  death,  in  which  by  the  recurrence 
of  the  motifs  already  made  familiar,  all  the 
virtues  and  the  life-episodes  of  the  dead  — 
the  adventures,  the  fearlessness,  the  love-life, 


INTERPRETERS.  117 


—  are  rehearsed  in  this  noble  musical  epitome, 
with  an  eloquence  and  expressiveness  which 
the  orator  could  scarcely  hope  to  equal 

In  somewhat  the  same  way,  as  it  seems  to 
rne,  the  several  Divine  names,  as  we  come  to 
understand  and  make  ourselves  familiar  with 
them,  may  be  as  so  many  motifs  employed 
in  celebrating  the  story  of  the  Christ-life  in 
humanity.  Think  how  wonderful  this  would 
be.  Nay,  think  how  wonderful  it  is;  for 
have  we  not  in  part  seen  it  to  be  so  ? 
':  Wonderful,"  "  Counsellor,"  "  Mighty  God,"  - 
have  we  not  recognized  in  these  appellations 
distinct  phases  of  the  Lord's  life  in  the 
world,  and  more  especially  in  the  spiritual 
life  of  men  ?  "  Sou  of  Man,"  "  Son  of  God," 
"  Jesus,"  "  the  Christ,"  —  can  we  not  already 
see  that  these  terms  are  expressive  of  differ- 
ent qualities,  and  we  might  almost  say,  epi- 
sodes in  the  life  of  our  Lord  ?  And  then 
this  term  "  Father,"  —  can  we  fail  to  see  that 


118  HOLY  NAMES. 


it  is  expressive  of  Divine  Love  from  which 
the  Lord  lived,  taught,  acted  ? 

See,  then,  what  is  involved  in  this  promise : 
"  His  name  shall  be  called  .  .  .  the  everlasting 
Father."  When  can  the  Lord,  in  the  develop- 
ment of  His  life  in  us,  be  called  our  Father  ? 
He  is  to  us  "  the  Wonderful,"  when,  as  the 
God-with-us,  He  draws  out  our  wonder,  our 
reverence.  He  is  for  us  "  the  Counsellor," 
when  we  feel  that  He  is  the  living  embodi- 
ment of  the  Divine  Truth,  and  we  go  to 
Him  in  faith  with  our  questions  concerning 
eternal  life.  He  is  for  us  "  the  Mighty  God," 
when  through  Him  we  gain  power  over  our 
evils.  He  is  for  us  "the  everlasting  Father," 
when  we  come  to  act  from  His  love.  When 
a  man  can  truly  say,  "  I  delight  to  do  Thy 
will,  O  my  God;  yea,  thy  law  is  within  my 
heart,"  for  him  the  promise  is  come  true : 
the  Lord  is  become  "  the  everlasting  Father." 

Need   it   be   said    that   this   is   not   accom- 


TRUTH  AS  A   PIONEER.  119 

plished  at  once  ?  Is  it  necessary  to  say,  that 
before  we  can  feel  this  intimate  and  alto- 
gether loving  relationship,  we  must  first  rev- 
erence, and  then  be  instructed  of  Him,  and 
then  carry  on  a  long  and  oftentimes  discour- 
aging struggle  against  the  evils  of  our  nature  ? 
Not  that  we  would  make  this  state  seem  hard 
of  attainment.  And  yet  we  would  rightly 
estimate  it.  We  would,  if  possible,  think  of 
it  and  look  forward  to  it  as  no  light  or  sen- 
timental blessing.  Very  many,  let  us  hope, 
are  living  their  lives  in  the  general  desire  to 
do  what  is  right.  But  in  this,  much  of  what 
we  do  is  actuated  by  a  sense  of  duty.  There 
may  be  even  lower  motives  by  which  we  are 
sometimes  actuated,  such  as  the  desire  for 
reward,  the  fear  of  appearing  ill,  of  doing 
ourselves  injury.  In  this  first  state  of  the 
regenerating  life,  truth  has  to  take  the  lead ; 
and  the  will  comes  dragging  on  behind.  It 
is  "  I  must  try  to  do  this,"  or  "  I  ought  to 


120  HOLY  NAMES. 


do  that."  It  is  duty,  duty,  duty,  all  the  time  ; 
checking  ourselves  here,  spurring  ourselves 
there.  It  is  facing  evils,  reluctantly  turning 
from  vanities,  silencing  doubts,  quelling  in- 
ward mutinies.  It  is  being  happy  one  day, 
discouraged  another.  It  is  being  trustful  one 
hour,  and  anxious  and  faithless  the  next.  It 
is  crying  in  a  sudden  moment  of  enthusiasm: 
"  Lor.d,  I  will  follow  thee  both  to  prison  and 
to  death ; "  and  then  again,  when  faith  is 
cold,  and  the  fires  of  self-love  are  blazing, 
saying  to  our  tormentors,  "I  know  not  the 
man  ! " 

And  is  this  the  all  of  religion  ?  Are  we 
summoned  to  enter  the  way  of  Truth  only 
that  we  may  have  to  battle,  and  keep  com- 
pelling ourselves,  and  be  almost  haunted  by 
this  spirit  of  Duty  ?  When  man  goes  forth 
like  Elijah  to  stand  upon  the  mount  before 
the  Lord,  is  it  only  wind,  and  earthquake, 
and  fire  that  shall  sweep,  and  rumble,  and 


"GO!"  AND  "COME!"   IN  RELIGION.      121 

kindle  about  him  ?  Is  there  no  release  from 
these  wild  gusts  of  temptations,  these  trem- 
blings, and  burnings  of  the  spirit  ?  Is  there 
no  silence;  no  still  voice  to  speak  to  the 
troubled  heart,  and  make  it  feel  the  nearness 
and  the  friendliness  of  God  ? 

Oh,  the  innumerable  multitude  on  which 
the  eyes  of  the  loved  disciple  rested,  arrayed 
in  white,  and  palms  in  their  hands,  of  whom, 
the  angel  said:  "These  are  they  which  have 
come  out  of  great  tribulation.  .  .  .  And  they 
hunger  no  more,  neither  thirst  any  more; 
neither  shall  the  sun  light  on  them,  nor  any 
heat."  There  comes  an  end  to  these  self- 
compulsions.  For  those  who  will  be  faithful 
unto  the  end,  the  "  Go "  in  religion  shall 
change  to  "  Come ! "  This  is  a  real  change ; 
a  change  in  man's  nature.  First,  Truth  must 
lead  the  way,  and  the  man  with  his  sluggish 
or  rebellious  will  must  try  to  follow.  It  is 
of  this  state  that  we  know  most  now.  But 


122  HOLY  NAMES. 


we  are  assured  that  there  is  another  state,  — 
and  it  is  sure  to  follow,  if  we  do  not  try  to 
avoid  the  first,  —  in  which  love  takes  the 
first  part.  There  is  a  reversal.  Love  flows  into 
thought,  impels  it,  inspires  it.  What  was 
before  a  duty  is  now  a  delight.  What  before 
required  effort  is  now  a  desire.  In  this  his- 
tory of  religion,  which  every  man  lives  out 
for  himself,  the  Lord  is  more  than  a  wonder, 
exciting  his  reverence ;  more  than  a  Coun- 
sellor, teaching  him  the  way  of  life;  more, 
even,  than  a  mighty  God,  helping  him  to 
overcome  his  evils.  In  this  new  state  of  har- 
mony and  delight  for  what  Divine  Love  de- 
sires, the  Lord  assumes  a  new  relationship,  — 
that  of  a  Father.  There  is  mutual  love ;  mu- 
tual joy.  And  yet  I  realize  how  powerless 
words  are  to  set  forth  a  state  so  blessed.  For 
"  eye  hath  not  seen,  nor  ear  heard,  neither  have 
entered  into  the  heart  of  man,  the  things  which 
God  hath  prepared  for  them  that  love  Him." 


TESTIMONY  OF  THE  TWO  SACRAMENTS.      123 

Only  it  is  everything  to  know  that  such  a 
state  is  possible  ;  nay,  that  such  a  state 
shall  certainly  be  if  we  persist  in  the  life 
of  struggle  and  duty  which  is  the  present 
experience  of  most  of  us.  It  is  everything 
to  know,  that  by  persistent  faithfulness  one's 
life  shall  come  into  such  harmony  with  the 
Divine  Life,  as  to  insure  a  relationship  as 
near,  as  friendly,  as  mutual,  as  that  of  father 
and  son. 

The  difference  in  these  states  and  relation- 
ships seems  to  me  to  be  beautifully  expressed 
by  the  two  Sacraments,  which  stand,  the  one 
at  the  beginning,  the  other  at  the  close  of 
the  Lord's  ministry.  In  Baptism  there  is  the 
sign  of  a  regenerating  work  to  be  accomplished. 
The  Lord  is  to  be  acknowledged  and  followed ; 
evils  are  to  be  removed.  "Whether  it  be  the 
brow  of  the  babe  or  of  the  man  that  receives 
the  sign  of  the  cross,  the  symbol  expresses  the 
same  hope.  Seen  in  heaven,  seen  by  men  on 


124  HOLY  NAMES. 


the  earth,  the  sacrament  testifies  that  the  per- 
son baptized  should  become  the  Lord's  faith- 
ful follower,  and  should  look  to  Him  for  help 
in  removing  evil.  Such  was  the  sacrament 
which,  at  the  very  beginning  of  the  Lord's 
ministry,  His  disciples  were  permitted  to  ad- 
minister in  His  name. 

But  see  how  different  is  the  sacrament  which 
is  instituted  on  the  last  night  of  that  loving 
ministry.  These  men,  who  at  first  followed 
more  in  awe  than  in  love,  who  have  been 
His  almost  constant  companions,  are  reclin- 
ing with  Him  about  a  table  from  which  they 
have  eaten  the  Passover  meal.  For  three  years 
they  have  been  taught  by  Him ;  they  have  had 
an  experience  of  His  love;  they  have,  in  a 
measure,  shared  His  sorrows  and  joys.  And 
now  for  the  last  time  on  earth  they  are  gath- 
ered together.  No  crowds  are  about  to  disturb 
the  quiet  of  that  meeting  and  that  parting. 
In  an  upper  room,  away  from  "the  strife  of 


THE  LAST  SUPPER.  125 

tongues,"  away,  it  must  almost  have  seemed 
to  them,  from  earth  itself,  they  lingered  in 
each  other's  companionship.  One  strangely 
touching  act  of  loving  service  He  had  per- 
formed, which  must  have  inwardly  rebuked 
the  pride  which  had  led  them  to  strive  for  the 
best  seats,  and  brought  them  into  a  state  of 
humility.  For  quietly,  from  one  to  the  other, 
not  even  omitting  Iscariot,  girded  with  a  towel, 
and  bearing  a  basin  of  water,  He  washed  the 
feet  of  His  followers.  And  when  He  had 
taken  His  place  again,  with  the  loved  disciple 
resting  His  head  upon  His  breast,  Judas  having 
gone  forth,  as  they  reclined  there,  a  sorrowful 
tenderness  drawing  them  spiritually  near  to- 
gether, He  drew  from  the  food  before  Him 
the  two  simplest  elements,  —  some  bread  and  a 
chalice  of  wine.  And  to  His  "  little  children," 
as  He  called  them  that  night,  He  distributed 
with  words  of  blessing  the  bread  and  the  wine, 
and  bade  them  in  the  days  that  were  coming 


126  HOLY  NAMES. 


to  celebrate  this  loving  meal  in  remembrance 
of  Him.  We  know  not  with"  what  looks  of 
anxious,  tender  love  these  men  met  His  eyes, 
as  one  by  one  the  bits  of  bread  and  the  chalice 
found  their  way  from  His  hands  to  theirs.  But 
one  thing  we  cannot  miss  seeing :  into  what  a 
loving  and  tender  friendship  the  discipleship 
of  these  rude,  simple-hearted  men  had  grown ! 
And  the  Last  Supper,  to  those  who  still  par- 
take of  it  in  love,  shall  always  express  that 
near  and  dear  relationship,  which  "with  de- 
sire "  the  Lord  looks  forward  to ;  and  which, 
when  it  is  once  established;  brings  joy  and 
calm.  To  receive  from  Him  in  love  and  faith 
pure  affections  and  thoughts,  as  the  disciples 
received  the  symbols  of  His  Body  and  Blood; 
to  be  fed  at  His  table,  is  to  know  Him  not  as 
a  distant  God  but  as  a  Father,  —  the  "  Father 
Everlasting."  For  that  state,  when  once  estab- 
lished, shall  not  be  destroyed.  It  shall  endure ; 
and  the  joy  of  it  shall  extend  into  eternity. 


THE  FACE  OF  LOVE.  127 

Do  we,  then,  complain  of  present  struggles  ? 
Do  we  falter  in  the  strife  ?  Do  we  feel  held 
down  to  the  world  and  its  life? 

"  What  is  the  world?     It  is  a  waiting  place 

Where  men  put  on  their  robes  for  that  above. 
What  is  the  new  world  ?     'T  is  a  Father's  face 
Beholden  of  His  sons,  —  the  face  of  love." 


THE    LORD    AS    THE    PRINCE    OF 
PEACE. 


PEACE  beginning  to  be 
Deep  as  the  sleep  of  the  sea 
When  the  stars  their  faces  glass 
In  its  blue  tranquillity: 
Hearts  of  men  upon  earth, 
Never  once  still  from  their  birth, 
To  rest  as  the  wild  waters  rest 
With  the  colors  of  heaven  on  their  breast ! 

Love  which  is  sunlight  of  peace, 
Age  by  age  to  increase 
Till  anger  and  hatred  are  dead, 
And  sorrow  and  death  shall  cease : 
"Peace  on  earth  and  good- will." 
Souls  that  are  gentle  and  still 
Hear  the  first  music  of  this 
Far-off,  infinite  bliss  ! 

EDWIN  ARNOLD. 


ilorD  as  the  prince  of  peace. 


His  Name  shall  be  called  .  .  .  the  Prince  of 
Peace" 

* 

the  names  which  we  have  considered 
as  rightly  belonging  to  the  Child  and 
Sou,  upon  whose  shoulder,  it  was  declared  in 
prophecy,  the  government  should  some  day 
rest,  names  which,  I  trust  we  have  come  to 
see,  disclose  the  different  relationships  which 
the  Lord  successively  sustains  to  every  man 
who  suffers  himself  to  be  divinely  led ;  is 
there  one  that  is  more  beautiful,  more  ap- 
pealing than  this  last  title  of  all  ?  The 
Prince  of  Peace !  How  perfectly  this  seems 
to  describe  that  wonderful  blending  of  ma- 
jesty and  gentleness,  of  power  and  love,  of 


132  HOLY  NAMES. 


energy  and  calm,  which  give  one  such  a 
sense  of  completeness,  of  strength,  of  absolute 
self-control  in  this  perfect  life  of  all !  "  I  am 
meek  and  lowly  in  heart,"  He  said.  Would 
any  of  us  gainsay  that  ?  No  service  so  homely 
but  He  would  perform  it;  no  house  so  hum- 
ble but  He  would  enter  it ;  no  obligation  so 
small  but  He  would  fulfil  it.  And  yet  some- 
thing in  that  presence  made  men  feel  there 
was  nothing  abject  in  this  meekness.  "  Lord, 
I  am  not  worthy  that  Thou  shouldst  come 
under  my  roof,"  exclaimed  the  centurion  to 
his  would-be  guest.  Why  does  yonder  man 
kneel  to  Him  in  the  boat  and  cry,  "Depart 
from  me,  for  I  am  a  sinful  man,  0  Lord "  ? 
And  why,  oil  the  night  of  the  Last  Supper, 
does  that  same  man  shrink  as  His  Master 
kneels  to  wash  his  feet,  and  exclaim,  "  Lord, 
Thou  shalt  never  wash  my  feet "  ?  Why  do 
these  angry  men  of  Nazareth,  who  had  led 
Him  to  the  brow  of  the  hill  with  the  inten- 


GENTLENESS  BUT  NOT   WEAKNESS.         133 

tion  of  casting  Him  down  headlong,  fall  back 
suddenly,  and  allow  Him  to  pass  through  their 
midst  unhindered  and  unharmed  ?  Why  do 
these  demoniacs  fall  at  His  feet  wallowing 
and  foaming,  as  if  His  very  presence  was 
more  than  they  could  bear?  Why  does  the 
mob,  who  have  come  out,  as  if  against  some 
thief,  with  lights  and  weapons,  fall  to  the 
ground  as  He  quietly  advances  to  them  and 
says,  "  I  am  He  "  ? 

Oh,  there  was  no  lack  of  strength,  nor  of 
majesty !  Hero,  Prince,  King,  the  sacred  books 
had  called  Him.  And  the  children  of  Israel, 
seizing  upon  such  prophecies,  thought  He 
would  come  and  marshal  them  to  victory; 
that  He  would  visibly  restore  the  throne  of 
their  father  David.  And  when  they  saw  Him 
riding  into  Jerusalem  one  day,  with  a  multi- 
tude about  Him,  they  thought  that  He  had 
come  to  be  their  King,  and  that  the  Kingdom 
of  God  would  suddenly  appear.  And  so,  in 


134  HOLY  NJMES. 


an  ecstasy  of  joy,  they  covered  the  road  with 
fronds  of  the  palm,  and  with  their  garments ; 
they  waved  palm-branches  as  to  a  mighty 
conqueror ;  and  a  great  shout  went  up,  "  Ho- 
sanna  to  the  Son  of  David ! "  "  Blessed  is 
the  King  of  Israel  that  cometh  in  the  name 
of  the  Lord ! " 

They  were  right  in  saluting  Him  so.     Had 
not  the  prophet  said  long  ago, — 

"  Rejoice  greatly,  O  daughter  of  Zion  ; 
Shout,  O  daughter  of  Jerusalem. 
Behold  thy  King  cometh  unto  thee  : 
He  is  just  and  having  salvation  ; 
Lowly,  and  riding  upon  an  ass  ; 
And  upon  a  colt,  the  foal  of  an  ass." 

And  in  that  Kingdom  which  He  declared  to 
be  His,  but  which  is  "not  from  hence,"  did 
not  the  Seer  of  Patmos  hear  this  song  go  re- 
verberating through  the  opened  heavens : — 

"  Worthy  is  the  Lamb  that  was  slain 

To  receive  power,  and  riches,  and  wisdom, 
And  strength,  and  honor,  and  glory,  and  blessing." 


NOT  BY  MIGHT  BUT  BY  THE  SPIRIT.      135 

The  Lord  came  to  establish  Himself  in 
power  among  men  ;  to  be  their  deliverer 
from  a  bondage  far  worse  than  that  of  Rome ; 
to  make  bare  His  holy  arm,  and  fight  for 
them  against  the  assaults  of  evil  power ;  to 
be  a  Prince,  around  whose  banner  they  might 
flock.  But  did  we  ever  think  what  it  cost 
the  Lord  to  be  a  Prince,  not  of  armed  hosts, 
but  of  Peace?  To  rule,  not  by  might,  nor 
by  power,  but  by  the  Spirit  ?  Have  we  ever 
thought  how,  in  that  great  work  of  Redemp- 
tion which  He  came  to  accomplish,  the  seem- 
ing hopelessness  of  triumphing  through  Love, 
through  Truth,  must  sometimes  have  been 
borne  in  upon  Him  ?  To  be  a  Prince,  not 
through  any  use  of  forces  and  powers  such 
as  fire  men's  enthusiasm  and  admiration,  but 
by  spiritual  conquests  which  we  all  are  so 
apt  to  shun !  To  be  a  Prince,  not  of  this 
world,  nor  through  the  might  of  this  world, 
but  of  Peace ! 


136  HOLY  NAMES. 


See  !  In  that  mysterious  waiting-time,  which 
was  spent  in  the  wilderness,  before  fully  en- 
tering upon  the  outward  work  of  His  minis- 
try, there  was  unfolded  a  view  of  dominion 
and  of  spreading  empires  which  were  intended 
as  a  temptation.  A  spirit  of  darkness  —  by 
what  magic  it  matters  not  —  summoned,  as  in 
a  vision,  the  kingdoms  of  the  world.  Prov- 
ince after  province,  empire  after  empire  rose  un- 
der his  touch,  until  the  glory  of  earth  seemed 
spread  out  before  them.  And  yet  the  spirit 
of  evil  must  have  known  how  gross  and 
cheap  dominion  of  this  kind  would  appear 
to  the  Son  of  Man.  What  to  Him  was 
earthly  dominion  ?  What  though  the  king- 
doms of  this  world  and  the  glory  of  them 
lay  at  His  feet  ?  Could  He  not  have  claimed 
the  right  to  say,  in  words  which  had  been 
written  to  declare  the  power  of  the  advent 
of  God-Messiah,  "  If  I  were  hungry,  I  would 
not  tell  thee:  for  the  world  is  Mine  and  the 


A  SUBTLE  TEMPTATION.  137 

fulness  thereof."  Why  then  this  vision  ? 
Can  we  doubt  it  ?  To  make  that  kingdom 
of  Truth  and  Love,  which  He  has  come  to  es- 
tablish among  men,  and  which  all  hell  would 
try  to  shatter,  appear  unreal ;  to  make  its 
establishment  seem  impossible,  except  by 
means  of  that  power  and  cunning  which  the 
tempter  only  too  well  personified. 

At  every  step  one  can  feel  the  cunning  of 
this  suggestion.  Did  not  the  people  come 
searching  for  Him  one  day,  determined  to 
take  Him  by  force,  if  necessary,  and  make 
Him  their  King  ?  Did  not  two  of  His  dis- 
ciples beg  that  they  might  invoke  the  light- 
ning to  punish  those  who  drove  Him  from 
their  doors  ?  Did  not  Simon  Peter,  who  once 
before  had  tried  to  hold  Him  back  from  com- 
ing persecution,  press  forward  to  His  side  as 
He  stood  there  in  Gethsemane,  waiting  for  the 
mob  to  take  Him,  and  whisper  eagerly,  "  Lord, 
shall  we  smite  with  the  sword  ? "  And  as  He 


138  HOLY  N4MES. 


hung  on  the  cross,  must  not  this  same  appar- 
ent need  of  force,  and  the  victory  that  might 
be  won  by  it,  have  come  to  Him  through  that 
cruel  taunt  which  they  flung  at  Him :  "  If  He 
be  the  King  of  Israel,  let  Him  now  come  down 
from  the  cross,  and  we  will  believe  Him." 
One  miracle,  put  forth  for  His  own  safety,  and 
they  might  believe ! 

Is  there  not  something  wonderfully  pathetic 
in  this  constant  refusal  to  turn  away,  for  so 
much  as  one  moment,  from  that  Kingdom  of 
the  Spirit  wherein  worldliness  and  mere  force 
can  have  no  place.  Beyond  the  reach  of  a 
"  lo !  here,"  or  "  lo !  there,"  it  was  already 
springing  up  in  a  few  faithful  hearts.  It  was 
promised  to  "  the  poor  in  spirit ; "  it  was  held 
out  to  those  "  who  are  persecuted  for  righteous- 
ness sake;"  it  is  the  home  of  children,  and  of 
all  who  are  humble  and  teachable  as  children, 
"  for  of  such,"  said  its  founder,  "  is  the  King- 
dom of  Heaven."  The  kingdoms  of  this  world 


PALM  AND   CONTEST.  139 

might  rise,  or  they  might  fall ;  but  this 
"Kingdom  of  God,"  lying  vast,  silent,  hidden 
in  humble  and  contrite  hearts,  would  be 
an  "everlasting  Kingdom,"  and  the  dominion 
of  its  King  would  endure  "throughout  all 
generations." 

No  weak,  no  merely  sentimental  title  that, 
—  Prince  of  Peace !  It  was  not  won  without 
struggle  and  pain.  And  it  tells  of  the  uncon- 
querableness  of  a  power,  which  we,  accustomed 
to  a  lower  rule,  where  force  is  met  with  force, 
where  money  and  rank  seem  to  have  such 
might,  need  to  cling  to  and  believe  in.  Do 
we  fret  ourselves  because  of  evil  doers;  and 
are  we  sometimes  envious  against  the  workers 
of  iniquity?  Do  we  see  evil  men  prospering, 
and  bringing  wicked  devices  to  pass  ?  Have 
we  sometimes  seen  the  wicked  in  great  power, 
and  spreading  himself  like  a  green  bay-tree; 
while  the  righteous  apparently  fail? 

When  thoughts  and  fears  like  these  oppress ; 


140  HOLY  NAMES. 


when  this  world's  life,  with  its  seeming  power 
and  pressure  and  tremendousness  appears  fairly 
to    crowd    out    and    dwarf   that  Kingdom   of 
the   Spirit  which   the   Prince  of  Peace  caine 
to   make   supreme,  I   know  of  nothing   more 
reassuring   than  to   turn   in   thought   to    that 
scene   in  the  Judgment    Hall,   with   its   two 
figures  who  stand  facing  each  other.     One  is 
a  proud,  cruel,  truculent  ruler,  watchful  only 
of  Eome's  power,  absolutely  indifferent  to  all 
questions  of  a  spiritual  nature,  the  very  per- 
sonification of  world-might:  the  other,  the  very 
embodiment  of  unworldliness,  no  symbols  of 
wealth   or  power  upon   Him,   standing  there 
in  perfect  calmness  and  simplicity,  and  treat- 
ing His  would-be  judge  with  gentle  courtesy. 
It  is  a  sight  not  to  be  forgotten  !     The  "  prince 
of  this  world"  facing,  questioning,  eying,  the 
Prince  of  Peace!    The  power  of  earth  trying 
to  pass  judgment  upon  the  power  of  holiness ! 
Human  might  measuring  itself  against  eternal 


WHOM  PILATE  TRIED  TO  JUDGE.  141 

Truth  and  Love !  We  all  know  how  uneasy, 
and  then  anxious,  and  then  frightened  grew 
this  man,  who  began  by  declaring,  "Knowest 
Thou  not  that  I  have  power  to  crucify  Thee, 
and  I  have  power  to  release  Thee  ? "  We  all 
know  how  he  tried  to  escape  his  responsi- 
bility; the  expedients  he  resorted  to, — now 
sending  Him  to  Herod,  now  offering  to  chas- 
tise Him,  now  trying  to  turn  over  Barabbas 
instead.  And  we  all  know,  too,  how  quiet 
and  reposeful  was  the  bearing  of  Him  whom 
Pilate  tried  to  judge ;  how  few  and  simple 
were  the  words  which  He  spoke,  and  in  which 
He  affirmed  His  Kingship. 

And  this  is  the  truth,  the  lesson  of  it  all 
to  which  we  should  cling:  There  came  to 
Pontius  Pilate  a  vision  of  strength,  of  royalty 
and  grace,  before  which  all  human  or  earthly 
conceptions  and  standards  utterly  broke  down. 
And  he  gained  it  through  One,  who,  to  the 
eye  that  could  look  upon  His  form  and  vis- 


142  HOLY  NAMES, 


age,  appeared  friendless,  spent,  weary.  He 
saw  patience,  fearlessness,  and  a  certain  re- 
pose that  betokened  untold  strength,  in  One 
who  could  not  be  frightened,,  nor  angered, 
nor  crushed.  The  more  they  mocked  Him, 
the  surer  seemed  His  majesty.  The  more 
they  did  violence,  the  greater  the  strength  of 
spirit.  The  more  they  sought  to  destroy  Him, 
the  more  surely  and  serenely  did  He  seern 
to  hold  His  Kingship. 

It  was  the  spiritual,  the  eternal,  proving 
its  might  over  the  natural  and  temporal.  Be- 
fore this  absolute  peacefulness  of  soul,  human 
authority  lost  its  boastfulness  and  courage. 
Little  the  Lord  said  to  Pilate;  did  not  argue 
with  him ;  did  not  threaten  him.  For  the 
most  part  He  remained  silent.  Not  because 
he  hated  Pilate ;  but  because  Pilate  needed 
nothing  so  much  as  the  sight  of  One,  who, 
apparently  weak  and  dependent  on  the  gov- 
ernor's clemency,  stood  calm  and  strong 


ABSOLUTE  SELF-CONQUEST.  143 

through  a  power  of  which  Pilate  knew  noth- 
ing. He  does  not  assail  the  Kingdom  of  the 
Caesars;  He  simply  reveals  another  that  is 
higher,  and  against  which  the  powers  of  the 
world  might  beat  in  vain. 

To  one  who  has  had  some  experience  in  try- 
ing to  be  governed  by  spiritual,  rather  than  by 
natural  motives ;  who  knows  their  difference, 
in  what  opposite  directions  they  tend;  who 
knows,  too,  that  with  the  best  of  intentions, 
sometimes,  even  after  we  have  resolved  to  act 
from  a  high  principle,  something  of  self,  some 
fear,  some  thought  of  self-interest  or  advan- 
tage will  spring  up  in  one's  path  and  demand 
to  be  heard,  —  to  such  an  one,  it  must  ever 
remain  a  subject  of  the  deepest  wonder  and 
reverence,  that  every  thought  or  feeling  in 
the  Humanity  of  our  Lord,  that  might  look 
to  self  or  the  world,  was  entirely  subjugated; 
every  word,  desire,  deed,  directed  absolutely 
to  divine  ends. 


144  HOLY  NAMES. 


And  when,  through  the  Gospel  story,  we 
see  Him  come  down  from  the  mountain, 
where  He  had  been  praying,  and,  in  the 
strength  of  a  renewed  consciousness  of  the 
Divine  Presence  which  He  had  thus  gained, 
walk  out  upon  the  angry  sea ;  or  when  we 
read  of  His  coming  to  Jerusalem  riding  upon 
an  ass,  and  upon  a  colt  the  foal  of  an  ass, 
while  the  people  hailed  Him  as  King;  then 
through  scenes  like  these,  the  truth  seems 
to  gain  form  and  reality;  the  truth  that  the 
Lord  gained  absolute  power  over  every  form 
of  evil ;  placed  it,  as  it  were,  under  His 
feet ;  and  that  all  the  lower  powers  and  fac- 
ulties, whether  of  the  natural  mind  or  physi- 
cal body,  —  the  very  powers  and  faculties 
which  in  us  are  apt  to  assert  themselves  as 
masters,  —  were  brought  into  complete  sub- 
jection to  those  which  were  higher.  And  as 
we  gain  a  view  of  that  fact  in  our  Lord's 
life,  then  we  can  begin  to  have  some  appre- 


"OVERCOME  THE   WORLD!"  145 

elation  of  what  He  intended  by  the  exclama- 
tion :  "  I  have  overcome  the  world  !  "  The 
world!  The  thoughts,  the  loves,  the  ways, 
that  belong  to  the  world ;  all  its  fears,  its 
harshness,  its  retaliations,  its  love  of  power, 
of  ease,  of  approbation ;  this  world,  in  which 
we  are  now  battling,  a  corner  of  which  we 
should  be  glad  to  really  subdue ;  He  could  say 
of  it,  "  I  have  overcome  the  world  ! "  Say 
it ;  and  manifest  it ;  not  simply  by  symbolic 
acts  such  as  we  just  spoke  of,  but  in  actual 
experiences  of  pain.  So  that  when  Judas 
pressed  his  lips  against  His  cheek,  He  spake 
only  in  grief;  when  false  witnesses  accused 
Him,  He  was  dumb  with  silence  ;  when  the 
coward  soldiers  buffeted  and  spit  upon  Him, 
there  was  nothing  like  anger ;  and  when  they 
crucified  Him,  there  were  no  imprecations, 
but  a  prayer  for  their  forgiveness. 

We  might  suppose   that  this   was   through 

a  supreme  effort  of   self-control ;    that  by  a 
10 


146  HOLY  NAMES. 


mighty  effort  of  the  will,  the  lips  were  not 
permitted  to  utter  the  words  of  remonstrance 
and  denial  and  accusation  that  were  ready  to 
be  spoken.  But  I  believe  there  was  a  fact 
much  more  wonderful  than  that.  I  believe 
that  all  those  thoughts  and  feelings,  which  in 
us  would  have  taken  arms,  and  risen  in  rebel- 
lion, were  being  absolutely  and  forever  subdued 
and  cast  forth  ;  that  our  Lord  so  entirely  over- 
came this  earthly  nature,  with  its  thoughts  and 
desires,  that  though  men  dragged  Hirn  through 
the  streets,  scourged  Him,  nailed  Him  to  a 
cross,  jeered  at  Him,  they  could  not  stir  up  a 
harsh  thought  nor  an  unkind  feeling.  In 
other  words,  this  spiritual  self-conquest  was 
so  complete,  the  Divine  came  down  so  fully 
into  these  lower  planes  of  life,  that  inwardly 
there  was  a  calm  and  a  peace  which  nothing 
could  destroy. 

And   we   may   think   of  this   somewhat   in 
this  way :    Far  back  in  the  Lord's  human  life, 


A  DIVINE  DESIRE.  147 

because  of  the  difference  in  its  origin  and  the 
far  greater  richness  of  that  primitive  mind 
which  was  Divinely  begotten,  He  was  con- 
scious of  a  feeling  of  intense  love.  Whence 
that  love  was,  whence  that  nameless  delight, 
that  intense  yearning,  the  little  Christ-Child 
did  not  at  first  clearly  know.  But  we  may 
think  of  Him  as  gradually  becoming  conscious 
of  it;  and  then  gradually  realizing  that  He 
alone  had  it.  We  may  think  of  Him  as 
gently  learning,  through  the  opened  Scrip- 
tures, whence  this  love  was,  and  why  He  had 
it,  and  how  it  was  to  become  His  very  life. 
And  when  the  truth  of  His  real  mission  had 
grown  bright  before  Him,  then  how  beauti- 
ful it  is  to  think  of  Him  as  planning  to 
bring  all  that  He  could  of  this  loving  power 
to  others,  to  bring  them  new  life,  —  the  life 
of  His  spirit.  Not  at  once  could  He  do  this ; 
nor  could  He  give  that  Spirit  in  its  fulness 
until  every  least  hindrance  in  Himself  had 


148  HOLY  NAMES. 


been  removed.  "  The  Holy  Spirit  was  not 
yet  given  because  that  Jesus  was  not  yet 
glorified."  But  though  not  completed  until 
the  crucifixion,  that  work  of  glorification,  of 
removing  everything  that  looked  to  evil  or 
was  earth-born,  and  bringing  the  Divine  into 
union  and  absolute  oneness  with  the  Human, 
was  constantly  going  on.  And  as  it  went 
on,  the  Lord  experienced  more  and  more  in 
His  Humanity  the  delight  of  the  Divine  life. 
It  brought  a  sense  of  rest  and  peace,  so  per- 
fect, so  profound,  that  He  bade  all  who  were 
weary  and  heavy  laden  —  as  many  a  time  He 
had  been  —  to  come  unto  Him  that  He  might 
share  it  with  them,  and  give  them  rest.  And 
on  the  night  of  the  Last  Supper,  the  conflicts 
so  nearly  over,  as  they  recline  about  the 
table,  there  is  within  the  sorrow  of  treachery 
and  the  knowledge  of  approaching  trials,  a 
calmness  of  spirit,  a  peace,  which  He  would 
fain  share  with  those  who  are  sadly  clinging 


"NOT  AS  THE  WORLD   GIFETH."  149 

to  Him.  "  Peace  I  leave  with  you,"  He  says 
to  these  friends,  these  companions,  these  "lit- 
tle children "  of  His ;  "  My  peace  I  give  unto 
you."  That  sense  of  perfect  rest  and  love 
and  confidence,  that  conquest  over  evil,  that 
freedom  from  uncharitableuess,  He  would  have 
them  have.  "Not  as  the  world  giveth,  give 
I  unto  you."  No,  the  world's  way  is  to  in- 
dulge and  satisfy  our  selfish  wants  :  His  way 
to  overcome  them,  and  in  their  place  to  ex- 
perience a  calmness  of  spirit,  a  free  delight 
in  good,  which  cannot  be  taken  away.  And 
then  He  is  taken  from  them ;  but  only  for 
"  a  little  while,"  as  He  had  said.  And  when 
He  comes  before  them  again,  this  is  His  sal- 
utation :  "  Peace  be  unto  you ! "  "  And  He 
breathed  on  them,"  say  the  Gospels,  "and 
said,  'Keceive  ye  the  Holy  Spirit.'" 

And  now  it  only  remains  for  us  to  ask, 
How  may  the  Lord  be  to  us  a  Prince  of  Peace  ? 
We  have  thought  of  Him  as  the  Wonder- 


150  HOLY  NAMES. 


ful,  when,  by  the  presence  of  His  Divinely- 
Human  life  among  men,  He  excites  our  won- 
der, our  reverence.  We  have  thought  of  Him 
as  the  Counsellor,  when,  in  the  confidence 
that  He  is  the  embodiment  of  the  Divine 
Truth,  we  go  to  Him  for  instruction  in  the 
way  of  life.  He  is  to  us  "  the  Mighty  God," 
when  through  His  power  we  learn  to  over- 
come evil.  He  is  for  us  "  the  Everlasting 
Father,"  when  we  have  an  experience  of  His 
love,  and  come  to  feel  a  delight  in  acting 
from  such  love.  He  is  to  us  "  the  Prince  of 
Peace,"  when,  after  His  example,  having  per- 
severed in  shunning  evils  as  sin,  the  lusts 
arising  from  the  love  of  self  and  of  the  world 
are  gradually  removed,  and  in  their  place 
there  is  received  from  Him  a  blessedness  of 
heart  and  soul.  When  there  is  no  longer  any 
combat  of  the  false  and  evil  against  the  good 
and  the  true,  when  there  is  no  spiritual  discord 
or  war,  then  there  is  contentment,  rest,  peace. 


YOKES  AND  LESSONS.  151 

Far  away  such  a  state,  as  a  permanent  one, 
may  seem  to  some  of  us,  who  know  more  of 
struggle  and  conflict  than  this  deep  calm  of 
soul  which  cannot  be  destroyed.  And  yet  it 
is  the  sure  portion  of  every  faithful  follower. 
Into  that  state  the  Lord  invites  all.  "Come 
unto  Me,  all  ye  that  labor  and  are  heavy 
laden,  and  I  will  give  you  rest."  Not 
through  crying,  "  Peace  !  Peace ! "  when  there 
is  no  peace ;  not  through  any  sickly  senti- 
ment, nor  morbid  state  of  the  feelings,  while 
evil  loves  are  still  unsubdued,  can  we  gain 
that  rest  of  soul.  "  Take  my  yoke  and  learn  of 
Me,  .  .  .  and  ye  shall  find  rest  unto  your  souls." 
First,  there  must  be  yokes  and  lessons,  —  les- 
sons out  of  this  life  of  Christ  our  Lord,  whose 
peace  came  through  victory  over  evil. 

Nor  let  us  be  disheartened  if  this  greatest 
of  all  blessings,  the  very  fruit  of  all  patient, 
persistent  effort,  should  be  the  last  in  com- 
ing. Think  of  the  Lord's  own  experience. 


152  HOLY  NAMES. 


If  what  was  said  above  is  true,  He  first 
perceived  with  a  sense  of  delight  the  love 
that  was  to  be  given  through  Him  to  men, 
and  with  quiet,  yet  eager  joy  began  "  to  be 
about  (His)  Father's  business."  But  before 
that  desire  could  be  fully  realized,  there  was 
a  period  of  spiritual  combat  to  be  undergone, 
so  that  Divine  Love  might  be  unhindered.  The 
extent  of  those  inward  struggles,  the  depth 
and  intensity  of  them,  who  shall  tell?  But 
when  they  were  accomplished,  when  He  had 
"  overcome  the  world,"  then  peace  reigned. 

Answering  to  these  three  stages  or  spirit- 
ual epochs  in  the  Lord's  life,  there  are  three 
periods  in  a  regenerating  man's  life. 

First,  he  enters  upon  the  life  of  his  religion 
in  a  state  comparatively  of  spiritual  tranquil- 
lity. He  looks  forward  to  the  blessedness  of 
it  with  happy,  peaceful  expectations;  some- 
thing in  the  same  way  that  the  Lord  contem- 
plated with  joy  the  bringing  forth  of  the 


A  SACRED  EXPERIENCE.  153 

Divine  Love.  It  is  a  very  tender,  a  very 
precious  time  in  a  man's  life.  It  is  the  time 
when  a  young  man  or  a  young  woman  may 
feel  moved  to  make  an  open  acknowledg- 
ment of  their  desire  to  live  a  Christian  life. 
On  bended  knees,  confessing  their  Saviour,  re- 
ceiving the  Church's  blessing,  a  young  man 
or  young  woman  virtually  says,  "  Lord,  I  will 
follow  Thee."  Not  for  the  sake  of  praising 
such  acts  would  we  speak;  but  rather  to 
dwell  for  a  single  moment  upon  the  joy  and 
tenderness  of  that  state  in  one's  life.  If,  in 
Divine  mercy,  we  have  had  it,  we  may  well 
think  of  it  and  keep  it  as  sacred.  If  any 
are  considering  it,  or  really  looking  forward 
to  it,  let  them  feel  that  it  is  the  Lord's  own 
loving  desire  for  them  that  has  awakened 
what  seems  to  be  their  desire  for  better  life; 
and  let  them  honor  it,  and  confirm  it,  and  be 
inwardly  grateful  that  the  true  way  of  life  is 
opening  up  before  them. 


154  HOLY  NAMES. 


And  if,  following  this  tranquil  joy  and  ex- 
pectation, there  comes  one  that  is  far  differ- 
ent,—  a  state,  of  temptation  and  conflict, — 
let  them  not  be  surprised  nor  dismayed. 
Was  it  not  the  Lord's  own  way  ?  "  Wist  ye 
not  that  I  must  be  about  my  Father's  busi- 
ness ? "  There  was  joy  as  of  heaven  in  that 
prospect.  But  what  followed  ?  The  hour  was 
not  yet  come.  To  Nazareth  He  returned,  and 
for  eighteen  years  His  life  seemed  a  life  of 
common  labor  and  trial.  "Seemed,"  I  say, 
because  in  that  very  experience  of  self-denial, 
in  the  waiting  of  those  long  years,  in  the 
inward  struggles  that  must  have  come  to 
Him  as  day  by  day  He  lived  that  simple, 
industrious,  self-denying  life,  He  was  advan- 
cing far  along  the  perfect  way.  Step  by  step 
He  advanced ;  was  tempted,  assailed,  weary 
oftentimes.  "  I  do  cures  to-day  and  to-mor- 
row, and  the  third  day  I  shall  be  perfected. 
Nevertheless  I  must  walk  to-day,  and  to-mor- 


A  LONG  STRETCH  IN  LIFE.  155 

row,  and  the  day  following."  Oh,  the  grad- 
ual, the  almost  plodding  life  of  regeneration ; 
that  long  and  seemingly  never-ending  second 
state,  with  its  difficulties  and  trials,  its  strug- 
gles and  spiritual  weariness !  Many  of  us 
know  what  it  is  to  say,  "  I  must  walk  to-day 
and  to-morrow,  and  the  day  following ! "  Al- 
ways some  call  for  new  effort  I  Always  some 
new  state  to  be  attained  ! 

And  yet,  when  we  see  that  this  period, 
this  long  stretch  in  life,  is  orderly ;  that  we 
cannot  expect  to  stay  in  that  first  state  of 
happy  expectation,  why  then  there  is  no 
cause  for  discouragement.  Let  there  be  the 
courage  to  say,  "  I  do  cures  to-day  and  to- 
morrow, and  the  third  day  [that  third  com- 
pleted state]  I  shall  be  perfected."  The 
work  will  then  have  been  done ;  the  inter- 
nal strife  will  have  been  ended ;  the  yokes 
will  have  been  borne ;  the  lessons  learned. 
And  then  comes  the  promised  rest  of  soul ! 


156  HOLY  NAMES. 

Not  a  mere  time  of  respite,  and  then  the 
struggle  to  be  taken  up  again;  but  a  new 
state  of  life,  a  new  condition  of  spiritual 
existence;  evil  subdued  and  removed,  and  the 
Lord  our  Prince  of  Peace. 

So  the  first  state  of  tranquillity  passes  into 
the  longer  one  of  combat ;  and  the  state  of 
combat,  if  we  remain  faithful,  leads  into  end- 
less peace. 

At  the  close  of  these  studies,  we  would 
make  the  last  words  a  prayer  that  we  may 
all,  each  under  the  Lord's  wise  and  loving 
guidance,  find  Him  to  be  to  us,  in  our  quest 
for  the  Divine  Life,  in  our  search  for  the 
Truth,  in  our  struggles  with  evils  and  adver- 
sities, in  our  desire  for  good,  in  our  patient 
waiting  for  rest  from  temptation,  the  Won- 
derful, the  Counsellor,  the  Mighty  God,  the 
Father  of  Eternity,  the  Prince  of  Peace. 


"  MORE  than  one  I  count  my  pastures 

As  my  life-path  groweth  long  ; 
By  their  quiet  waters  straying 

Oft  I  lay  me,  and  am  strong. 
And  I  call  each  by  its  giver, 

And  the  dear  names  bring  to  them 
Glory  as  from  shining  faces 

In  some  New  Jerusalem." 


APPENDIX. 


APPENDIX. 


A. 

THE   STORY  OF  THE   VIRGIN  BIRTH.  — ITS 
AUTHENTICITY. 

TT  is  a  delight  to  believe  that  the  Christ  is 
•*•  less  a  fact  of  cold  theology  than  ever  be- 
fore. More  good  is  undertaken  and  done  in  the 
name  and  in  the  spirit  of  Him  who  said,"  Fol- 
low Me,"  than  at  any  time  since  the  Christian 
Church  began.  But  let  us  not  mistake.  With 
all  the  personal  attachment  which  it  seems  cer- 
tain the  Christian  world  feels  in  its  contempla- 
tion of  the  life  of  the  Son  of  Man,  with  all  its 
happy  enthusiasm  for  that  ideal  of  charity  and 
unselfish  service  which  He  has  set  before  us, 
nevertheless,  the  thought  with  so  many  —  both 

in  and  out  of  the  churches  —  now  is,  that  the 
11 


162  WHY  REJECTED? 

virgin  birth  is  hardly  to  be  insisted  upon  as 
true;  and  that  for  all  He  was  so  sinless,  so 
perfect  in  love,  in  wisdom,  in  patient  devotion, 
He  yet  was  sprung  from  our  own  race.  To 
account  for  the  story  of  the  virgin  birth  in  the 
Gospels,  it  is  declared  that  it  grew  up  "  long 
after  "  the  Lord's  death.  Says  a  writer :  "These 
stories  about  His  birth  are  very  late  and  of  no 
authority.  The  Jews  expected  their  Messiah 
to  be  born  in  Bethlehem;  so,  after  the  people 
came  to  believe  that  Jesus  was  the  Messiah, 
this  belief  grew  up." 

A  very  plausible  explanation,  except  that,  in 
this  case,  it  utterly  ignores  the  attitude  which, 
both  by  word  and  by  deed,  the  Saviour  took, 
and  which  led  to  His  final  condemnation  by 
the  church  rulers,  who  accused  Him  of  blas- 
phemy on  this  ground  :  "  For  a  good  work  we 
stone  Thee  not ;  but  for  blasphemy ;  and  be- 
cause that  Thou  Icing  a  man  makest  Thyself 
God."  Furthermore,  unless  the  story  of  the 


A    VENERABLE   WITNESS.  163 

Nativity,  as  given  in  St.  Luke's  Gospel,  be  an 
addition  of  a  later  age,  that  story  could  not 
have  grown  up  "  many  years "  after  the  Sav- 
iour's death ;  for  it  is  now  practically  conceded 
by  friend  and  foe  that  this  third  Gospel,  to- 
gether with  the  Acts,  was  written  by  one  Luke, 
a  companion  of  Paul. 

It  might  be  claiming  too  much  to  declare 
that  the  "  Ignatian  controversy  "  is  settled ;  but 
certain  it  is  that  very  many  regard  as  authentic 
the  martyrdom  of  Ignatius  in  Rome,  not  later 
than  11 G  A.  D.,  or  on  the  more  generally  ac- 
cepted supposition  of  a  twofold  expedition  of 
Trajan  against  the  Parthians,  that  he  perished 
December  20,  107  A.  D.  In  his  Epistle  to  the 
Ephesians  (I  quote  from  the  shorter  version), 
he  writes :  — 

"  For  our  God,  Jesus  Christ,  was,  according  to 
the  appointment  of  God,  conceived  in  the  womb  by 
Mary,  of  the  seed  of  David,  but  by  the  Holy  Ghost. 
.  .  .  Now  the  virginity  of  Mary  was  hidden  from 


164  JUSTIN  MARTYR. 


the  prince  of  this  world,  as  was  also  her  offspring, 
and  the  death  of  the  Lord  ;  three  mysteries  of 
renown  which  were  wrought  in  silence  by  God."  l 

Justin  Martyr,  whose  writings  are  among  the 
most  important  that  have  come  dowii  from  the 
second  century,  is  known  to  have  lived  in  the 
reign  of  Antoninus  Pius;  and  it  is  almost 
equally  certain  that  he  suffered  martyrdom  in 
the  reign  of  Marcus  Aurelius.  Approximately, 
then,  the  date  of  his  birth  may  be  given  as 
114  A.  D.,  and  that  of  his  death  as  165  A.  D. 
This  is  still  near  to  the  apostolic  age ;  and  yet 
in  the  "  Dialogue  with  Trypho,"  the  genuineness 
of  which  is  not  doubted,  appears  a  full  account 
of  the  Nativity  closely  following  the  narrative 
as  given  in  St.  Matthew. 

"  And  Joseph,"  writes  this  Father,  "  the  spouse  of 
Mary,  who  wished  at  first  to  put  away  his  betrothed 
Mary,  supposing  her  to  be  pregnant  by  intercourse 

1  Epistle  of  Ignatius  to  the  Ephesians,  chap,  xviii.,  xix. 


CORROBORATES  ST.   MATTHEW.  165 

with  a  man,  that  is,  from  fornication,  was  com- 
manded in  a  vision  not  to  put  away  his  wife  ;  and 
the  angel  who  appeared  to  him  told  him  that  what 
is  in  her  womb  is  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  Then  he 
was  afraid,  and  did  not  put  her  away  ;  but  on  the 
occasion  of  the  first  census  which  was  taken  in 
Judea,  under  Cyrenius,  he  went  up  from  Nazareth, 
where  he  lived,  to  Bethlehem,  to  which  he  be- 
longed, to  be  enrolled  ;  for  his  family  was  of  the 
tribe  of  Judah,  which  then  inhabited  that  region." 

And  yet  it  is  the  spiritual  side  of  the  Incar- 
nation, its  meaning,  its  influence,  its  relation 
to  us  personally,  that  we  are  most  desirous  to 
understand,  and  which  it  has  been  the  primary 
object  of  this  book  to  set  forth. 


B. 

(See  Page  41.) 

A  LAW  OF  CREATION  AS  APPLIED  TO  THE 
MIRACULOUS   CONCEPTION. 

TV  /T  AN"  is  essentially  a  spiritual  being.  In 
the  very  form  of  his  creation,  that 
which  essentially  is  the  man,  which  loves, 
thinks,  makes  plans  and  efforts  for  useful  life, 
is  spiritual.  It  certainly  is  not  material.  And 
doubtless  very  much  of  our  perplexity  and 
unbelief  would  utterly  disappear,  if  we  could 
break  away  from  the  materialism  in  which  our 
bodily  senses  try  to  hold  us,  and  realize  that 
there  are  forces  and  substances  within  matter 
higher  than  matter,  apart  from  matter,  and, 
above  all,  more  enduring  than  matter.  Thought, 
love,  are  real  things.  What  is  there  more  real, 
more  enduring  ?  They  make  up  the  real  things 


MAN  A  SPIRITUAL   ORGANISM.  167 

of  our  life  and  character.  A  man's  character  is 
not  his  body.  It  is  not  even  of  it.  The  body 
may  be  maimed,  blind,  deaf,  lame.  It  may  be- 
come injured ;  it  may  die.  But  all  the  time, 
surely,  there  is  a  something,  a  spiritual  nature 
or  organism,  which  exercises  thought,  love, 
and,  whether  for  good  or  ill,  has  a  general  di- 
recting power  over  the  physical  body,  which  it 
tries  to  use  for  the  carrying  out  of  its  purposes. 
Because  we  can  see  and  handle  material  things, 
we  make  them  first ;  give  them  the  palm,  so  to 
say,  for  reality.  But  science  is  fast  doing  us 
a  good  service  by  showing  us  that  even  in  this 
outward  realm  of  nature  there  are  forces  and 
substances  invisible  to  the  naked  eye.  And 
what  is  more,  these  inner  forces  and  substances 
of  nature  prove  to  be  more  highly  organized, 
more  charged  with  life  and  energy,  than  the 
things  which  come  within  our  sight  and  under 
our  touch.  Moreover,  they  are  primary.  They 
are  first,  and  exercise  a  directing  power.  Why 


168  FROM  INMOSTS  TO   OUTMOSTS. 

limit  the  law  to  natural  things  ?  Here  is 
nature's  testimony  that  the  kingdom  of  God 
and  His  righteousness  is  indeed  first.  First 
the  invisible,  the  internal,  the  spiritual ;  then 
the  visible,  the  external,  the  material. 

For  instance,  you  speak  a  sentence.  There 
is  a  succession  of  sounds ;  a  birth,  as  it  were,  of 
words.  And  what  was  the  law  by  which  they 
were  created  ?  Clearly,  this  descent  of  inmosts 
into  outmosts  ;  first  a  feeling  or  intention ;  then 
that  intention  clothing  itself  in  distinct  thought ; 
and  then  the  thought  articulating  itself  by 
means  of  natural  speech.  The  same  is  true  of 
every  free  and  conscious  act.  And  in  agree- 
ment with  this  law  we  are  not  surprised  with 
Swedenborg's l  declaration,  that  the  seed  of  man 

1  For  some,  the  remark  will  appear  unnecessary,  but  the 
author  desires  to  state  that  the  doctrine  of  the  Son  of  Man 
which  he  has  tried  to  set  forth  in  these  pages,  is  stated  in  its 
fulness  in  the  theological  writings  of  Swedenborg,  to  whom 
the  entire  Scriptures  were  a  revelation  of  the  Divinity  of  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ. 


FIRST  THE  SPIRITUAL.  169 

is  of  spiritual  origin,  clothed  upon  by  natural 
substances  for  the  sake  of  conveyance. 

Turn  now  to  the  words  of  the  angel  as  set 
down  in  the  Gospel :  "  That  which  is  conceived 
in  her  is  of  the  Holy  Ghost."  We  are  prepared 
to  think  of  this  as  something  wholly  spiritual. 
We  are  prepared  to  think  of  it  as  the  initia- 
ment  used  in  the  formation  of  the  Lord's 
Humanity.  Like  the  initiament  in  man,  it  is 
composed  of  the  substances  of  the  heavenly 
world,  for  it  is  purely  spiritual.  And  the 
"  miraculous  "  part  of  this  conception  would  be, 
that  instead  of  being  derived  from  man  as  a 
father,  it  is  from  the  Divine ;  and  through  the 
chosen  instrumentality  of  her  who  was  hailed 
as  blessed  among  women,  this  inmost  form  of 
human  life,  containing  within  itself  divine  pos- 
sibilities, became  clothed  in  a  natural  body, 
and  in  the  silent,  mysterious  way,  which  is  the 
way  of  all  birth,  was  born  into  the  world. 


c. 

THE    PERSON  OF    THE     SON    OF  MAN  IN  THE 
LIGHT  OF  HIS  OWN  TESTIMONY. 

TT  is  impressive  to  note  in  the  Gospels  how 
-*-  careful  the  Lord  was  that  men's  reverence 
for  Him  should  not  simply  be  hero-worship; 
for  the  Saviour,  even  in  the  days  when  He 
was  crucified,  was  not  without  His  admirers. 
They  thronged  about  Him  as  He  entered  Jeru- 
salem, and  made  the  city  ring  with  their  Ho- 
sannas.  They  followed  Him  from  village  to 
village;  and  sometimes,  when  He  withdrew  to 
secluded  places  that  He  and  His  disciples  might 
gain  a  little  needed  rest,  the  people,  learning 
where  He  was,  would  come  to  Him  by  thou- 
sands. And  well  they  might ;  for  He  not  only 
healed  their  sick,  but  He  talked  to  them  as  no 
scribe  could  do  of "  the  kingdom  of  heaven," 


FIRST  ADMIRERS.  171 


and  presented  to  them  a  religion  of  love,  of 
personal  kindness  and  forgiveness,  of  spiritual 
equality,  of  unselfish  service,  such  as  was  new 
indeed.  And  all  this  excited  not  only  the 
greatest  curiosity  and  wonder,  but  the  greatest 
personal  enthusiasm.  Bright  with  cunning,  the 
Pharisees  tried  to  explain  His  miracles  by  as- 
cribing them  to  Satanic  power ;  but  the  people 
quickly  replied,  "  He  is  a  good  man,"  and  some 
went  much  further,  and  said,  "  He  must  be  a 
prophet ; "  whilst  others  asked  point  blank 
whether  the  expected  Messiah  Himself  could 
excel  His  works  of  miracle  and  love.  So  there 
was  much  enthusiasm  and  admiration  among  a 
certain  class.  They  would  wait  for  an  oppor- 
tunity to  touch  the  hem  of  His  robe;  they 
would  bring  their  sick  and  lay  them  in  the 
streets  where  it  was  thought  He  would  pass 
by.  Many  of  them  claimed  to  be  His  disci- 
ples, and  went  about  with  Him,  and  sometimes 
undertook  to  do  works  like  Him. 


172  HERO   WORSHIP. 

And  now  the  thought  comes,  what  would  all 
this  mean  if  the  Lord  were  simply  man  ?  If 
He  were  simply  man,  was  it  right  for  men  to 
give,  or  for  Him  to  receive  worship  ?  Was  it 
right  for  Peter  to  proclaim  Him  the  Christ,  the 
Son  of  God  Most  High  ?  Was  it  right  for  the 
Samaritan  leper  to  turn  back  in  the  fulness  of 
his  gratitude  and  worship  Him  ?  When  John 
the  Evangelist,  awed  by  the  vision  of  the  spir- 
itual world  and  its  wonders,  fell  at  the  feet  of 
his  angel  guide,  and  would  have  worshipped 
him,  the  angel  restrained  him  and  said,  "  See 
thou  do  it  not;  .  .  .  worship  God."  Was  it 
best,  then,  that  the  Saviour  should  be  wor- 
shipped if  He  were  only  a  man,  or  if  the  people 
had  no  higher  thought  of  Him  than  that  He 
was  a  man  ?  "  Why  callest  thou  Me  good  ?  " 
He  asked  of  the  rich  young  ruler  who  came 
and  knelt  to  Him  ;  '•'  there  is  but  one  good : 
that  is  God."  And  unless  the  young  man  felt 
that  he  was  appealing  to  the  Divine  in  Him, 


TWO  IMPORTANT  FACTS.  173 

the  Lord,  it  is  plain,  wished  him  to  see  that 
worship  offered  to  one  who  was  thought  of  only 
as  a  rabbi  was  not  right. 

And  the  moment  we  begin  to  examine  this 
point,  we  find  the  Gospels  rich  in  testimony  of 
two  facts :  — 

1.  The   Lord   presented   Himself  as   being 
essential  to  man's  spiritual  life.      He   is   the 
Bread  that  cometh  down  from  heaven  that  men 
may  eat  thereof  and  not  die.     "  Without  Me 
ye  can  do  nothing."     "  Abide  in  Me,  and  I  in 
you ;  as  the  branch  cannot  bear  fruit  of  itself, 
except  it  abide  in  the  Vine,  no  more  can  ye, 
except  ye  abide  in  Me."     "  I  am  the  Way,  the 
Truth,  and  the  Life."     "  Come  unto  Me,  all  ye 
that  labor  and  are  heavy  laden,  and  I  will  give 
you  rest." 

2.  The  Lord  emphasized  at  every  turn,  that 
He  spoke,  lived,  and  acted  from  the  Divine  in 
Himself,  and  not  from  Himself  apart  from  the 
Divine.     "  The  words  that  I  speak  unto  you,  I 


174        FAITH  OF  THE  EARLY  CHRISTIANS. 

speak  not  of  myself."  "  My  doctrine  is  not 
mine  ;  but  His  that  sent  Me."  "  I  can  of  Mine 
own  self  do  nothing."  The  Lord  is  telling  us 
that  the  wisdom  and  the  power  in  Him  are  not, 
as  men  are  fond  of  saying,  the  result  of  any 
natural  development ;  they  are,  rather,  the  very 
Divine  wisdom  and  power  of  love  received  and 
manifested  by  Him. 

In  this  thought  of  the  Divine  character  of 
all  that  the  Lord  did  and  said,  the  early  Chris- 
tians found  strength  and  comfort.  Men  did 
believe  that  life,  comfort,  saving  help,  came 
from  the  risen  Lord.  Simple  and  childlike  that 
faith  was,  if  the  annalists  of  the  early  Church 
can  be  believed.  They  did  not  formulate  it  for 
a  time  into  theological  "  articles "  of  belief. 
They  might  not  have  been  able  to  do  so. 
They  were  content  to  believe  and  feel  that  the 
Lord  was  very  near  to  them ;  that  He  was  the 
Saviour  so  long  promised,  Israel's  consolation, 
the  world's  hope;  and,  as  Paul  expressed  it, 


CERTAINTIES  OF  BELIEF.  175 

that   in  Him  dwelleth   all  the  fulness  of  the 
Godhead  bodily. 

We  conclude,  then,  that  no  amount  of  critical 
knowledge  can  remove  these  two  facts  :  — 

1.  That,  on  the  testimony  of  the  Gospels,  that 
Saviour  believed  that  the  Divine  was  in  Him  ; 
that   He   lived,  spoke,   and    acted   from    that 
Divine  ;  and  that  because  of  the  fulness  of  the 
Divine  in  Him,  He  could  assume  powers  and 
relationships  impossible  to  men  on  the  earth  ; 
and, 

2.  That  His  apostles  and  the  early  converts 
believed  these  things  with  all  their  hearts,  and 
looked  to  Him  as  having  all  power  in  heaven 
and  on  earth. 


D. 

A  VENERABLE   AND  KEMARKABLE   WITNESS. 

"XT  7ITHOUT  overlooking  the  value  of  the 
most  earnest  critical  investigations 
which  attempt  to  determine  the  character  and 
rightful  position  of  the  Son  of  Man,  we  be- 
lieve there  is  a  kind  of  testimony  which  the 
Lord  Himself  indicated,  but  which  is  too  often 
overlooked. 

We  will  think  of  Him  as  He  stood  there  in 
the  synagogue  of  Nazareth,  the  people  of  the 
little  town  amid  whom  He  had  quietly  lived 
gathered  that  day  to  hear  Him  ;  a  hush  of  ex- 
pectation falling  upon  them  as  He  unwound 
the  roll  of  the  book  of  the  prophet  Isaiah.  And 
when  He  had  found  the  place  for  which  He  was 
looking,  quietly,  we  may  believe,  and  in  a  tone 
of  yearning  tenderness,  He  read  the  beautiful 


THE  CHRIST  OF  PROPHECY.  177 

old  prophecy,  "  The  Spirit  of  Jehovah  is  upon 
Me,  because  He  hath  anointed  Me  to  preach 
the  gospel  to  the  poor ;  He  hath  sent  Me  to 
heal  the  broken-hearted,  to  preach  deliverance 
to  the  captives,  and  recovering  of  sight  to  the 
blind,  to  set  at  liberty  them  that  are  bruised, 
to  preach  the  acceptable  year  of  the  Lord." 
And  then  he  handed  back  the  roll  to  the  at- 
tendant ;  and  with  their  eyes  still  fixed  upon 
Him,  standing  there  in  the  old  familiar  place, 
He  broke  the  silence  with  these  words  :  "  This 
day  is  this  Scripture  fulfilled  in  your  ears." 
There  in  his  own  town  He  declared  Himself 
to  be  the  Christ  of  prophecy.  A  wild,  a  blas- 
phemous claim  if  it  were  not  true.  But  if 
true  —  what  ? 

The  Old  Testament  teems  with  predictions 
concerning  the  Son  of  Man,  —  of  His  work, 
of  His  kingdom,  of  His  endless  reign.  No  one 
denies  the  existence  of  these  prophecies.  They 

had  been  lying  in  the  Old  Testament  Scriptures 
•  12 


178  FOREGLEAMS. 


for  years,  awaiting  fulfilment.  What  shall  we 
say  of  them  if  they  should  prove  to  be  a  fore- 
shadowing of  certain  events  which  are  of  im- 
mense importance  spiritually  to  the  men  of 
to-day,  —  and  this,  too,  not  by  merely  general 
or  obscure  prefigurations,  but  by  references  to 
specific  and  even  minute  particulars  ?  And 
what  light  would  this  throw  upon  the  nature 
and  lawful  place  in  our  human  life  of  One 
whose  life  should  prove  to  have  fulfilled  the 
predictions,  both  in  general  and  in  particular, 
made  centuries  before  His  advent  ?  We  speak 
not  simply  of  prophecies  which  outline  in  gen- 
eral the  nature  of  the  promised  Deliverer,  as 
that  "  the  Spirit  of  Jehovah  shall  rest  upon 
Him,  the  Spirit  of  wisdom  and  understanding, 
the  Spirit  of  counsel  and  might,  the  Spirit  of 
knowledge  and  of  the  fear  of  Jehovah."  Beau- 
tiful indeed  is  the  description  of  One  of  whom 
it  could  be  said,  "  Righteousness  shall  be  the 
girdle  of  His  loins,  and  faithfulness  the  girdle 


FORESHADOWS.  179 


of  His  reins."  But  what  if  prophecies  cen- 
turies old  give  events,  and  particulars  of  those 
events,  which  historical  criticism  has  admitted 
to  be  entirely  credible  ?  How  happens  it,  for 
instance,  that  David  in  the  Psalms  should 
describe  the  crucifixion  almost  as  graphically 
as  the  Gospels  themselves,  —  the  gall  and  the 
vinegar  offered  for  drink,  the  dividing  of  the 
garments,  and  the  casting  of  lots  for  the  seam- 
less vesture  ?  How  comes  it  that  -the  twenty- 
second  Psalm  begins  with  the  very  cry  which 
Jesus  uttered  on  the  cross,  "  My  God,  my  God, 
why  hast  thou  forsaken  Me !  "  or  that  the  rail- 
ings of  the  mob  should  be  foreshadowed  in  ev- 
ery word  and  gesture,  — "  All  they  that  see 
Me  laugh  Me  to  scorn  ;  they  shoot  out  the  lip, 
they  shake  the  head,  saying,  He  trusted  the  Lord 
that  He  would  deliver  Him ;  let  Him  deliver 
Him  seeing  He  delighted  in  Him  !  "  How  comes 
it  that  Isaiah  should  foretell  the  trial,  as  though 
he  had  been  by  when  Jesus  was  brought  as  a 


180  THE  SCRIPTURES  FULFILLED. 

lamb  to  the  slaughter,  —  as  though  he  had  seen 
the  stripes  laid  upon  His  back,  and  the  blood- 
stained visage,  and  the  body  hanging  between 
thieves,  making  "  His  grave  with  the  wicked," 
and  the  tomb  of  the  rich  man  of  Arimathea 
in  which  the  body  was  laid  ?  Is  it  said,  The 
writers  of  the  Gospels  evidently  made  their 
accounts  to  square  with  the  prophecies  ?  But 
these  are  predictions  of  facts  which  no  fair 
historical  criticism  denies.  Xor  is  it  an  easy 
matter,  according  to  the  laws  of  historical  or 
literary  evidence,  to  think  of  the  Gospels  as  a 
pious  fraud  palmed  off  on  the  early  Christians 
at  a  time  when  the  memory  of  the  last  agony 
of  Jesus  was  fresh  in  every  heart. 

Here,  then,  is  a  plain  fact :  the  Old  Testa- 
ment contains  prophecy  after  prophecy  which 
the  life  of  Christ  fulfilled.  Nor  is  this  all. 
The  Lord  repeatedly  points  to  His  life  as  being 
a  fulfilment  of  Old  Testament  Scripture,  where 
no  prophecy  was  suspected ;  as,  for  example, 


"  WHICH  TESTIFY  OF  ME."  181 

where  He  says,  "  As  Moses  lifted  up  the  ser- 
pent in  the  wilderness,  so  must  the  Son  of  Man 
be  lifted  up."  A  statement  like  this,  impressive 
in  itself,  becomes  still  more  remarkable  when 
placed  with  the  somewhat  broader  declaration, 
that,  beginning  at  Moses  and  all  the  prophets, 
He  expounded  to  two  of  His  disciples  in  all 
the  Scriptures  the  things  concerning  Himself. 
And  this  in  turn  becomes  strengthened  by  the 
further  declaration,  "  These  are  the  words  which 
I  spake  unto  you  while  I  was  yet  with  you,  that 
all  things  must  be  fulfilled  which  were  written 
in  the  Law  of  Moses,  and  in  the  prophets,  and 
in  the  Psalms  concerning  Me." 

This  kind  of  testimony,  we  maintain,  has 
a  right  to  be  considered,  in  every  attempt  to 
determine  the  question  of  "evidence."  And 
that  the  Saviour  Himself  so  thought  would 
seem  to  be  evidenced  by  His  charge,  "Search 
the  Scriptures,  ...  for  they  are  they  which 
testify  of  Me." 


182  THE   WHITE  TEMPLE. 

Nor  is  this  testimony  of  necessity  limited 
to  remote  references  to  the  Light  of  Life,  nor 
even  to  open  predictions  of  His  advent,  His 
work  and  sufferings;  since  He  Himself  has 
shown  the  existence  of  an  occult  meaning 
within  narratives  apparently  free  of  any  tes- 
timony concerning  Himself  and  His  redemp- 
tion. Something  of  this  has  long  been  recog- 
nized ;  but  that  much  more  will  be  disclosed 
may  confidently  be  expected.  Nor  shall  we 
be  surprised  to  find  that  portions  seem- 
ingly unimportant  to  us  now,  bear  this  same 
character. 

The  building  of  the  temple,  for  instance ; 
of  how  little  value  that  appears  to  be  to  us 
in  our  present  life !  "  But  He  spake  of  the 
temple  of  His  body."  And  what  if  that  snow- 
white  temple,  standing  upon  Mount  Moriah, 
should  prove  to  be  a  symbol  of  our  Lord's 
Humanity.  What  a  new  meaning  would  be 
imparted  to  all  the  particulars  connected  with 


WITHOUT  SOUND   OF  AXE  OR  HAMMER.    183 

it!  How  expressive  the  fact,  that  while  it 
was  a-building  there  was  heard  within  it  no 
sound  of  axe  or  hammer !  Noiselessly  it  grew. 
Stone  after  stone,  column  after  column,  found 
their  place,  until  at  last  it  stood  forth  in  all 
its  white  beauty.  And  then  we  think  of 
those  silent  years  in  Nazareth.  All  we  know 
is  what  the  Gospels  tell  us  :  "  And  the  child 
grew  in  wisdom,  and  stature,  and  in  favor 
with  God  and  man."  Slowly,  calmly,  beau- 
tifully, that  Humanity,  which  was  to  be  the 
living  temple  of  Jehovah,  grew  unto  its  per- 
fect state.  Did  Ezekiel  in  vision  behold  a 
stream  flowing  from  under  the  threshold  of 
the  great  temple,  small  at  first,  but  growing 
ever  wider  and  deeper  until  it  rolled  resist- 
lessly  on,  a  mighty  river  ?  So  from  this  other 
temple,  the  waters  of  life  have  been  flowing, 
scarcely  felt  at  first,  flowing  gently  over  men's 
feet,  but  growing  ever  deeper  the  farther  we 
go  with  it,  now  at  the  ankles,  now  at  the 


184  THE  HEM  OF  HIS   GARMENT. 

knees,  now  at  the  loins,  and  now  flowing  over 
the  head. 

It  would  be  a  long  step  towards  reaching 
the  Truth  for  which  all  earnest  men  are  seek- 
ing, did  we  find  that  "  the  testimony  of  Jesus 
is  the  Spirit  of  prophecy."  There  would  then 
remain  but  one  step  more :  the  glad  ap- 
proach in  answer  to  the  "Come  unto  me." 
It  is  feared  by  some  that  much  of  what  is 
reported  to  have  been  said  and  done  by  the 
Perfect  One  is  but  the  embroidery  worked 
upon  His  vesture  by  loving  friends.  We 
may  find,  on  the  other  hand,  that  there  are 
those  who  still  divide  His  garments  among 
themselves.  But  as  for  the  "  embroidery,"  we 
have  often  thought  of  the  kindly  words  of 
personal  comfort,  so  simple  that  they  fairly 
sweep  the  ground  on  which  we  stand,  and  the 
many  little  deeds  of  miracle  and  love  in  which 
the  truth  of  this  all-gracious  Life  seemed  to  ter- 
minate, as  the  hem  of  His  garment. 


E. 

THE     SIMPLICITY    OF    THE  GOSPEL  RECORDS 
AND  THE   MIRACULOUS    ELEMENT. 

r  I  ^HE  Gospels  come  to  us  in  a  form  bear- 
ing  on  their  face  a  mark  of  simple  hon- 
esty. They  are  not  commentaries.  In  their 
letter  they  are  the  records  of  what  some 
plain,  true-hearted  men  saw  and  heard.  That 
is  one  of  the  remarkable  evidences  of  their 
genuineness,  —  that  they  do  not  explain.  The 
facts  are  given,  the  sayings  of  the  Saviour, 
treasured  in  their  memories,  are  set  down 
without  any  private  interpretation.  Take  the 
Transfiguration,  for  instance.  A  startling  ap- 
parition, truly,  this  sudden  beholding  of  One 
who  but  a  moment  before  had  stood  beside 
them  in  all  human  simplicity,  now  shining 
as  the  sun.  And  yet  the  fact  alone  is  re- 


186      WITHOUT  EXPLANATION  OR  APOLOGY. 

corded,  without  one  word  of  attempted  ex- 
planation. Take  the  Resurrection,  —  a  theme 
for  the  study  of  Christian  commentators  ever 
since ;  and  yet  one  very  reason  for  its  credi- 
bility is  the  perfect  simplicity  and  straight- 
forwardness of  the  record,  —  not  a  comment, 
never  a  word  of  apology  or  attempted  ex- 
planation, but  a  plain,  brief  recital  of  what 
was  seen  and  heard.  To  say  that  men  re- 
cord their  imaginations  or  preconceptions  in 
a  form  so  terse  and  historical,  is  an  offence 
to  our  common  judgment.  Besides,  the  Evan- 
gelists record  it  against  themselves  more 
than  once,  that  they  who  were  disciples  did 
not  understand  many  of  the  things  that  were 
said  and  done  until  all  things  had  been  ac- 
complished, and  they  could  see  the  full  and 
perfect  meaning  of  their  Master's  life.  They 
understood  not  His  frequent  references  to 
His  death  and  passion;  they  understood  not 
the  "  procession  of  palms  "  ;  Peter  understood 


NO  MIRACLES  FOR  HIMSELF.  187 

uot  the  foot-washing.  But  these  things  were 
recorded;  and  the  record  becomes  doubly  val- 
uable as  showing  how  little  of  private  inter- 
pretation and  idiosyncrasy  there  was  in  what 
was  written. 

And  here  is  a  fact  which,  on  the  assumption 
so  often  made  that  miracles  were  an  invention 
of  the  writers,  or  misconceptions  or  exaggera- 
tions on  the  part  of  credulous  beholders,  is 
to  say  the  least  strange :  there  is  no  record 
of  a  single  miracle  by  the  Lord  which  He 
performed  for  Himself.  "  He  saved  others," 
the  people  cried  exultantly,  as  they  watched 
Him  on  the  cross  ;  "  Himself  He  cannot  save." 
They  mocked  Him  with  His  seeming  help- 
lessness, and  challenged  Him  to  put  forth 
His  power  and  free  Himself.  "  Let  Him 
come  down  from  the  cross,  and  we  will  be- 
lieve on  Him."  And  to  my  mind  the  stran- 
gest miracle  in  all  that  holy  life  is  the  fact, 
that  throughout  all  those  last  scenes  of  mock- 


188      "I  HAVE  POWER  TO  LAY  IT  DOWN." 

ery  and  suffering  He  never  once  put  forth 
His  power  in  His  own  defence ;  that  though 
they  made  such  cruel  sport  of  Him,  though 
they  blindfolded  Him,  and  struck  Him,  and 
spit  upon  Him,  though  they  lashed  Him,  and 
dragged  Him  hither  and  thither,  He  would 
not  take  Himself  out  of  His  tormentors'  hands 
nor  do  them  harm ;  and  that  in  that  last 
hour,  the  people  reviling,  His  friends  weep- 
ing, the  pains  of  death  and  of  hell  laying 
hold  of  Him,  He  would  not  deliver  Himself, 
but  just  died  there  between  the  two  thieves. 
And  yet  if,  as  is  often  maintained,  it  was 
inevitable  that  the  life  of  Christ  should  have 
been  associated  with  miracle,  how  strange  it 
is  that  not  one  of  the  Evangelists  should  have 
imagined  something  miraculous  in  such  scenes 
as  these ! 


R 

THE  STORY  OF  THE  REDEMPTION. 

\  LL  Christians,  surely,  can  unite  in  a 
grateful  acknowledgment  of  the  new 
life  of  thought  and  love  which  the  Saviour 
brought  into  the  world.  It  has  been  claimed, 
that  for  nearly  every  precept  which  the  Lord 
taught  its  equivalent  can  be  found  in  some 
older  religion  ;  that  the  Golden  Rule,  for  in- 
stance, which  the  Christ  declared  to  be  the 
very  sum  and  substance  of  true  religion,  was 
taught  by  Confucius,  although  in  its  negative 
form.  But  Truth  is  old :  old  as  Divinity, 
for  it  is  a  part  of  it.  "  In  the  beginning  was 
the  Word."  And  the  test  of  a  teacher's  or 
a  reformer's  greatness  is  not  so  much  in  an 
ability  to  discover  new  truth,  as  in  securing 
for  Truth,  whether  old  or  new,  its  rightful 


190  FACTS  OF  LIFE. 


place  and  power.  And  tins  the  Lord  certainly 
did.  He  made  truth  real,  not  simply  by  stat- 
ing it,  however  beautifully  and  clearly,  but 
by  being  it. 

Take  the  law  of  love,  which  is  declared 
to  be  the  new  commandment  of  the  religion 
of  Jesus.  Men  had  been  taught  again  and 
again  the  greatness  of  love.  The  fatherless, 
the  stranger,  the  widow,  were  commended 
to  the  merciful  care  of  every  true  Israelite. 
But  what  had  been  taught,  what  had  in  a 
variety  of  ways  been  imaged  and  represented, 
gained  an  actuality  and  power  through  the 
life  of  the  self-sacrificing  love  of  Jesus  of 
Nazareth  which  nothing  can  destroy.  Is 
not  the  same  true  of  the  law  of  service,  of 
humility,  of  forbearance,  of  forgiveness  ?  The 
Lord  has  revealed  and  established  these  truths 
as  facts, —  facts  made  real  and  beautiful  through 
the  experiences  of  His  divinely  human  life. 

Hence  a  peculiarity  of  His  teaching,  —  one 


191 

which  would  be  taken  as  a  piece  of  unbear- 
able egotism  if  attempted  by  any  one  else, — 
His  frequent  use  of  the  expression,  "  1  am." 
What  does  He  say  of  meekness  and  lowli- 
ness ?  "  /  am  meek  and  lowly  in  heart." 
What  does  He  say  of  the  resurrection  and  its 
life  ?  "  /  am  the  Eesurrection  and  the  Life  ! " 
There  is  a  way  to  eternal  life :  how  shall 
men  find  it  ?  The  Lord's  answer  is,  "  /  am 
the  Way."  There  is  a  gate,  a  means  of  en- 
trance :  but  where  ?  And  again  His  answer 
is,  "  /  am  the  Door."  That  He  would  have  an 
influence  upon  the  thought  and  life  of  men 
seemed  clear:  but  how  does  he  express  this 
fact  ?  "  /  am  the  Vine  ;  ye  are  the  branches." 
"  /  am  the  Bread  of  Life."  "  I  am  .  .  .  the 
Truth." 

In  His  teachings,  then,  in  His  acts  of 
helpful  kindness,  in  His  patient  ministry 
of  love,  we  can  see  the  beginnings  of  that 
work  of  liberation  which  He  had  come  to  ac- 


192  OPENING    THE  PRISON  DOORS. 

complish.  Men  were  held  by  false  views  of 
their  relation  to  each  other.  To  them  "an 
eye  for  an  eye,  and  a  tooth  for  a  tooth," 
expressed  the  whole  idea  of  justice.  Labor 
was  regarded  as  a  curse ;  poverty  a  disgrace ; 
death  a  horror;  and  the  future  life  a  blank. 
Very  quietly,  but  with  a  might  that  has 
proved  triumphant,  these  forms  of  bondage 
were  overcome,  and  to  the  poor  and  the  sin- 
ful doors  were  opened  upon  a  new  life  of  free- 
dom. As  fast  as  it  was  possible,  men's  eyes 
were  opened  to  see  the  vileness  of  evil,  and 
means  were  provided  for  their  escape.  In 
Him  they  saw  what  true  life  should  be.  A 
few  were  able  to  be  instructed  in  some  of 
the  mysteries  of  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven.  And 
these  the  Lord  kept  about  Him.  And  in 
order  that  what  He  said  might  be  more  than 
a  mere  matter  of  learning  or  of  the  mem- 
ory, He  let  them  share  some  of  His  work; 
sent  them  on  little  mission  tours,  that  they 


KNOWN  OF  EVIL  SPIRITS.  193 

might  have  an  experience  of  His  own  love 
of  doing  good.  In  this  way  their  spiritual 
power  and  confidence  grew ;  and  when  He  was 
removed  from  their  bodily  sight,  they  were 
helped  to  believe  in  His  spiritual  presence, 
and  went  on  with  their  work,  strong  in  the 
confidence  that  He  would  support  them  in 
every  experience  that  might  befall  them. 

But  there  was  another  side  to  this  great 
work  of  redemption,  which  was  for  the  most 
part  invisible,  and  yet  which  was  still  more 
important,  for  it  went  deeper;  still  more  mo- 
mentous, for  it  dealt  directly  with  the  sources 
of  evil  power.  And  see ;  here  is  a  single 
verse  in  St.  Mark's  Gospel  that  will  serve  our 
purpose :  "  And  unclean  spirits  when  they 
saw  Him  fell  down  before  Him,  and  cried, 
saying,  Thou  art  the  Son  of  God ! "  Ah,  then 
they  knew  Him !  then  in  some  way  they  had 
met  Him!  had  felt  the  divine  power  of  His 
life  come  upon  them  as  a  kind  of  judgment ! 
13 


194  THE  SOURCE  OF  EVIL. 

"  I  know  Thee  who  Thou  art ;  the  Holy  One 
of  God ! "  Again  the  same  cry !  and  again 
it  comes  from  unclean  lips !  "  Thou  art  the 
Christ,  the  Son  of  God!"  Still  this  same 
confession  from  the  devil-legion  !  and  always 
this  acknowledgment  of  a  Power  they  could 
not  face ! 

The  Lord,  need  it  be  said,  did  not  treat 
evil  as  an  outside  blemish.  It  is  no  mere  skin 
disease.  Its  roots  are  deep.  It  comes  from 
the  heart.  And  what  gives  it  life  ?  What 
gives  hate  its  unnatural  fury  ?  What  breath 
blows  upon  evil  passion  until  it  breaks  out 
into  a  destroying  flame  ?  What  is  it  that 
gives  a  fiendish  delight  to  acts  of  cruelty  ? 
Man  is  a  spiritual  being.  He  is  created 
capable  of  receiving  spiritual  influences,  think- 
ing spiritual  thoughts,  feeling  spiritual  affec- 
tions. Around  the  souls  of  infants  and  little 
children  we  love  to  think  there  are  heavenly 
influences.  Why,  we  can  feel  it!  And  into 


THE  LAW  OF  RECEPTIVITY.  195 

all  good,  noble  thought,  or  unselfish  service, 
comes  a  kind  of  inspiration  and  joy  which  we 
instinctively  speak  of  as  "  heavenly."  These 
influences  are  as  real,  as  necessary  to  the  soul 
of  man,  as  light  and  heat  of  the  sun  are  to 
the  flower.  We  do  not  grow  from  ourselves, 
but  from  the  assimilation  of  spiritual  forces 
and  substances  which  we  receive  into  our  life. 
"A  man  can  receive  [or,  still  better,  "a  man 
can  take  unto  himself"]  nothing  except  it  be 
given  him  from  heaven,"  is  the  strong  way 
in  which  the  Lord  states  this  law  of  man's  re- 
ceptivity. And  not  only  do  little  children 
have  angels  about  them,  who,  in  their  holi- 
ness, do  always  behold  the  face  of  our 
Father  in  heaven,  but,  on  the  authority  of 
the  Son  of  Man,  "there  is  joy  in  the  pres- 
ence of  the  angels  of  God  over  one  sinner 
that  repenteth." 

And    if  this    law    of   association    between 
heaven   and   what   is  good   in  man    be    true, 


196  JUDAS  AND  SATAN. 

the  opposite  must  also  be  true.  Into  evil 
thoughts,  murders,  adulteries,  fornications,  and 
the  like,  flow  hellish  influences,  which  give 
them  such  corrupting  power.  Was  it  not  so 
with  Judas  ?  In  his  sordid  love  of  gain,  he 
opened  himself  to  a  malign  power.  That  power 
was  not  slow  in  coming.  "Then  entered  Sa- 
tan into  Judas  surnamed  Iscariot,"  is  the 
statement  of  the  Gospel.  Brief  enough,  and 
terrible  as  brief.  Not  that  Satan,  as  here 
and  elsewhere  mentioned,  is  some  one  head 
devil.  That  is  an  old  heathen  doctrine. 
"Our  name  is  legion,  for  we  are  many," 
cried  the  evil  spirit  at  Gadara.  And  just 
as  we  use  the  word  Man  as  applying  to  the 
entire  human  race,  so  Satan  or  Devil  is  a 
term  covering  the  entire  kingdom  of  evil 
spirits.  And  when  it  is  said  that  Satan  en- 
tered into  Judas,  we  understand  the  statement 
to  mean  that  into  the  false,  hateful  thought 
of  that  apostle,  into  the  mean  desire  to  make 


"DARKNESS  SHALL   COVER   THE  EARTH."    197 

gain  out  of  One  so  holy,  spirits  of  evil  entered 
with  delight,  encouraged  his  thought,  fanned 
his  desire  into  a  flame,  until  it  mastered  him, 
and  he  did  the  deed  which  will  always  be 
associated  with  his  name,  and  which,  in  the 
agony  of  the  shame  and  remorse  which  suc- 
ceeded his  treachery  drove  him  to  self-murder. 

In  thz  Lord's  day  these  evil  influences  were 
evidently  in  the  ascendency.  Little  by  little 
man  had  ceased  to  make  use  of  those  spiritual 
means  and  powers  by  which  they  can  be  re- 
sisted and  withstood.  And  as  a  result,  man 
came  more  and  more  under  the  control  of  this 
evil  dominion.  This  baleful,  infernal  influ- 
ence, which  seemed  to  spread  itself  between 
man  and  heaven,  and  which  threatened  to  cut 
off  its  light  and  life  and  leave  mankind  to 
stifle  and  perish  in  those  poisoned  atmospheres 
below,  is  what  is  meant  by  the  darkness 
which  would  cover  the  earth,  and  gross  dark- 
ness the  people.  How  far  that  power  some- 


198  FACE  TO  FACE   WITH  EVIL. 

times  went  is  disclosed  to  us  in  the  cases  of 
demoniac  possession.  And  those  cases,  we 
may  believe,  were  disclosed  as  a  sign  of  a 
common  danger  threatening  all  humanity,  as 
also  to  reveal  the  spiritual  nature  of  the 
Lord's  redeeming  work. 

For  He  came  face  to  face  with  that  power ; 
He  came  into  conflict  with  it.  How  ?  The 
apostle  has  answered  that  question :  "He 
was  tempted  at  all  points  like  as  we  are." 
The  human  nature  assumed  by  incarnation, 
although  it  lived  directly  from  the  Divine, 
called  in  the  Gospels  the  Father,  —  much  as  a 
man's  body  may  be  said  to  live  from  his  soul,  — 
was  in  itself  woman-born.  It  was  therefore 
approachable,  not  only  by  men,  not  only  by 
angels,  but  by  spirits  of  evil.  We  frequently 
read  of  the  Scribes  and  Pharisees  tempting 
Him,  by  trying  to  entrap  Him  in  His  speech. 
Even  the  unwise  affection  of  Peter,  and  the 
hot  indignation  of  the  sons  of  Zebedee,  were 


"  TEMPTED  AT  ALL  POINTS."  199 

forms  of  temptation  to  turn  Him  from  the  way 
of  self-sacrifice  and  mercy.  But  what  were 
these  as  compared  with  the  assaults  made 
upon  His  human  nature  by  the  powers  of 
evil !  In  every  way  they  tried  to  find  and 
lay  hold  of  some  weakness,  some  fear,  some 
trace  of  bitterness,  some  desire  for  self-pres- 
ervation, by  which  they  could  gain  a  foot- 
hold, and  turn  Him  from  His  purpose.  At 
every  point,  the  Apostle  declares,  they  made 
their  attack. 

But  all  in  vain.  When  the  mob  picked 
up  stones  to  stone  Him,  they  could  bring  no 
fear  upon  Him.  When  Peter  denied  Him, 
they  could  not  prompt  Him  to  utter  a  bitter 
word  against  the  man  who  rushed  out  into 
the  night  in  very  shame.  When  Judas  kissed 
Him,  there  was  no  hate ;  only  an  exclamation 
of  sad  compassion.  When  false  witnesses  rose 
up  against  Him,  there  was  no  word  of  angry 
denial  or  self- vindication.  When  the  cross 


200  AFRAID   OF  THE  TRUTH. 

was  lifted,  there  was  no  denunciation :  only 
a  prayer.  When  the  mob  hooted  and  taunted 
Him,  a  silence,  as  of  a  pity  unutterable,  was 
the  only  answer.'  And  it  troubled  them. 
Somehow  the  taunts  died  out  as  the  end  drew 
near.  They  stood  in  the  gathering  darkness 
in  silence.  And  when  it  was  all  over,  instead 
of  a  cheer,  that  same  rabble  at  Golgotha  were 
smiting  their  breasts,  and  many  were  saying, 
"Truly  this  was  the  Son  of  God!" 

And  if  the  power  of  that  perfect  life  would 
in  a  few  hours  affect  the  mob  of  Jerusalem 
so,  how  would  it  be  with  the  spirits  of  evil, 
who  from  the  first  had  been  met  by  a  power 
of  truth  from  which  they  shrank  in  fear? 
Can  we  not  see  that  gradually  this  power, 
which  kept  coming  more  and  more  fully  into 
the  tempted  parts  or  degrees  of  His  Humanity, 
would  not  only  be  felt  by  evil  spirits,  but 
would  awe  them,  frighten  them,  scatter  them 
to  their  own  abodes  ?  The  Gadarenes  begged 


THE  PRINCE  OF  THIS   WORLD   CAST  OUT.     201 

Him  to  depart  out  of  their  coasts.  There 
was  something,  about  His  presence  they  could 
not  stand.  How  much  more  keenly  would 
this  be  felt  by  evil  beings  in  the  spiritual 
world.  "Would  not  His  near  presence  act 
upon  them  as  a  kind  of  judgment,  and  break 
the  unlawful  hold  which  they  had  gained  upon 
man  ? 

The  Lord  Himself  gives  us  warrant  for  such 
a  belief;  for  He  said:  "For  judgment  I  am 
come  into  this  world."  "  Now  is  the  judg- 
ment of  this  world :  now  shall  the  prince  of 
this  world  be  cast  out."  "  I  beheld  Satan 
as  lightning  fall  from  heaven."  The  power 
of  evil,  which  had  exalted  itself  to  such  a 
height  that  the  very  heavens  were  threatened, 
was  abased.  Back  to  their  own  places  the 
spirits  of  darkness  fled ;  for  a  Power  which 
they  no  longer  dared  to  face  had  conquered 
them. 

And  as  a  result,  what  ?    Why,  man's  spirit- 


202  GOLDEN  LIBERTY. 

ual  freedom  was  restored.  A  new  power  of  life 
was  given.  He  could  turn  himself  freely  either 
to  good  or  to  evil ;  for  redemption  is  not  sal- 
vation, but  that  freedom  of  spirit  which  makes 
salvation  possible.  And  that  freedom,  was 
universal ;  it  included  man  everywhere.  And 
being  essentially  a  subjugation  of  the  kingdom 
of  darkness,  redemption  was  just  as  much  for 
the  good  of  those  who  never  heard  the  name  of 
the  Eedeemer,  as  for  those  who  stood  about 
Him. 

A  glorious  redemption  truly  !  A  wonderful 
deliverance  from  a  monstrous  tyranny.  Man 
may  indeed  be  subject  to  evil  influences  from 
within.  But  this  is  largely  because  he  invites 
and  indulges  them.  And  even  then,  if  he  will 
but  turn  to  the  Lord  the  Kedeemer,  there  is 
no  limit  to  the  power  which  he  may  call  to 
his  aid,  save  the  limit  of  his  own  power  of 
reception. 

And  this  certainly  is  what  we  can  see  to-day  : 


A  NEW  POWER   OF  LIFE.  203 

a  growing  freedom  of  thought,  a  newness  of 
life,  a  new  power  of  affection,  which  are  grad- 
ually transforming  our  existence.  And  all  this 
in  its  very  first  and  most  immediate  cause  is 
traceable,  not  to  any  great  school  of  philos- 
ophy, not  to  any  royal  court  nor  patron,  but 
to  this  Life  that  was  first  seen  in  far-off  Gali- 
lee, and  that  quietly  taught  on  sea-shore  and 
mountain. 

There  is  but  one  Life  that  is  so  felt.  If  He 
were  mere  man,  it  would  not  be  so.  Nor  could 
we  rest  in  Him ;  for  no  purely  human  being  can 
be  the  final  refuge  of  those  who  seek  God.  But 
men  do  rest  in  the  Christ ;  men  do  feel  His 
spirit.  The  Gospels  tell  of  Him,  the  Church 
witnesses  Him,  but  the  human  heart  alone  feels 
Him.  And  what  is  this  if  not  a  fulfilment  of 
His  last  pledge  made  to  men  on  the  earth,  "  Lo, 
I  am  with  you  always  !  " 


"  Nor  can  the  vain  toil  cease 
Till  in  the  shadowy  maze  of  life  we  meet 
One  who  can  guide  our  aching,  wayward  feet 
To  find  Himself,  —  our  Way,  our  Life,  our  Peace. 
In  Him  the  long  unrest  is  soothed  and  stilled, 
Our  hearts  are  filled." 


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